Former MCA president Ong Tee Keat took a potshot at Dr Chua Soi Lek today, claiming that the latter had once been supportive of Umno’s ‘ketuanan Melayu’ (Malay supremacy) despite commenting against it recently.

NONE Ong ( left ) told reporters in Parliament today that he was “taken by surprise” when he first read Chua’s statement in the newspapers.

“Ketuanan Melayu, he mentioned, (is) about the master and slave relationship. I brought this up as early as 2008 when I was interviewed by Bernama, and of course I was under fire back then.

“But at the same time I can still remember some time back he (Chua) was supportive of ketuanan Melayu,” said Ong.

Ong added that while Chua had once cowed to the concept, he is glad the latter is now sharing his views.

“I’m simply puzzled. At least when I expressed my views, I did so through the proper channels. Of course I don’t mean to say that he couldn’t voice his concern.

mca 140910 chua soi lek “But what really surprised me was that it was on the same subject matter; not too long along you (Chua) were saying something different, and you seem to have made a U-turn and that you choose to do it glaringly, in the open.

“Which one is your real stand? Please state,” said Ong.

Chua ( right ) during the BN Convention last weekend said that the coalition’s component parties should be given equal voice to Umno, who often seems to be making unilateral decisions for the coalition.

He also recommended that words such as 'pendatang' (immigrants), 'penumpang' (passengers), 'terhutang budi' (feeling of indebtedness), 'kurang patriotik' (unpatriotic) and 'ketuanan Melayu' (Malay supremacy), to be considered taboo.

‘Chua neglected my proposals’

Ong, who is also Pandan MP, insisted that he had voiced similar concerns when he was MCA president, and accused Chua of abandoning several proposals that the former president had pushed for during his tenure.

“When I was MCA president, I brought up such suggestions to BN, to have multi-party participation in the BN grassroots network, especially in the appointment of BN divisional chiefs.

“MCA brought up such a proposal and that was adopted by BN ... whereby if a constituency is represented by the MCA or any component party, the BN divisional chairmanship should go to the same party, and that was accepted.

“If the candidate won, the BN MP should himself be BN division chairman. If he lost, the chairmanship should go to the division chief of the component party,” he said.

Meanwhile, MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong supported Chua’s call but declined further comment.

“I think the prime minister has already responded to MCA president's call. It has already been overtaken by events ... the most important is for BN to move forward,” said Wee.

“When the view was conceived, it was not done (with intention to) sabotage. I think that is the party stand. I’m part of MCA,” he said.