The MCA party polls on March 28 was initially seen as judgment day for three - outgoing president Ong Tee Keat, former deputy president Chua Soi Lek and former vice-president Liow Tiong Lai - who had been at loggerheads for the past eight months.

mca re-election nomination 220310 ong ka ting 03 However the return of former MCA president Ong Ka Ting  (left) has redrawn the battle lines. It has now become a war between pro-Ka Ting and anti-Ka Ting camps.

His comeback had united all the anti-Ka Ting forces including those in Chua and Tee Keat's team.

This can be seen in the recent statements by both of Ka Ting's opponents in the presidential race.

After the retired president announced his intention to contest in the fresh polls, both Chua and Tee Keat directed their fire at him.

Chua has been Ka Ting's long time enemy. His supporters allege that Ka Ting was behind his sex DVD scandal which led to his downfall in early 2008.

Ong was said to be Ka Ting's preferred candidate in 2008 party polls but chose to distance himself from Ka Ting after he was elected and abandoned many of Ka Ting's policies.

Greatest obstacle

According to Phoon Wing Keong, a research officer at the New Era College, Ka Ting offended many party veterans during his tenure as president. They have now become his greatest obstacle in his way to reclaim the throne.

Although Ka Ting announced his comeback after many division leaders and veterans openly called him to save the party, he can hardly command more than 40 percent of the central delegates support, calculated Phoon.

"Ka Ting is not confident in this battle. That is why he needs to mobilise his supporters to create public demand. If he is confident, he would not need this," said Phoon in his column in the Chinese edition of Malaysiakini .

mca new cabinet member 180308 ong ka chuan In the 2008 party polls, Ka Ting's elder brother Ong Ka Chuan (right), backed by Ka Ting who was the outgoing president then, was defeated by Chua in the three-corner fight for deputy presidency. Ka Chuan only managed to garner 1,001 or 40 percent votes out of the 2,400-odd delegates.

"That was the battle where Ka Ting went all out to ensure his proxy continued to dominate the party. It showed his highest support was only slightly above 40 percent and this included the votes from Tee Keat's camp.

"If Tee Keat's support was subtracted he couldn't even get 40 percent," Phoon wrote.

On the other hand, Phoon estimated Chua was still in control of 46 percent support from the 1,115 and 1,110 votes he enjoyed in the previous party polls and the party's extraordinary annual general meeting last October.

Hence he concluded that if the battle line was now drawn between the pro-Ong and anti-Ong factions, Ka Ting has no chance of winning.

"However if the battle line is blurred and only centred around the party unity, integration and dignity, Ka Ting may grab the throne in a tangled fight."

Although there is no sign that either Tee Keat or Chua would withdraw from the three-corner contest to combine their support against Ka Ting, a last minute twist in the final 48 hours can't be ruled out - especially when anti-Ka Ting sentiment is building up within the party.

As they say, politics is the art of the impossible, made possible.

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