Former health minister and MCA vice-president Chua Jui Meng appears to be the first 'casualty' of the new Chinese media monopoly by business tycoon Tiong Hiew King.

Four Chinese dailies owned by Tiong were conspicuously absent from the launching of a beauty salon owned by former beauty queen Jcqlyne Chin in Petaling Jaya, where Chua was the guest of honour.

Commenting on the absence of the four Chinese dailies, Chua said he was saddened and concerned by it.

"I hope this is not the beginning of the Chinese community's biggest fear where some voices will be cut off," he told reporters from other dailies and television networks.

On Tuesday, Tiong who owns the country's most popular Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily and its sister publication Guangming Daily , acquired Nanyang Holdings' two dailies Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press as well.

Also missing was the MCA-owned English daily, The Star .

In 2001, Chua belonged to a faction in MCA known as Team B, headed by then party deputy president Lim Ah Lek.

Team B had locked horns with then president Dr Ling Liong Sik and his Team A for backing the party's purchase of Nanyang Holdings which publishes two Chinese dailies.

Following a peace plan brokered by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Ling and Lim stepped down while Ling's protege Ong Ka Ting took over as president.

Last year, Chua mounted an unsuccessful challenge against Ong for the president's post in the party polls.

'Time reveals all'

Chua said he supported the MCA leadership's decision to dispose its shares in the loss-making Nanyang but questioned the choice of buyer.

Chinese community leaders should have been consulted before the deal was struck, said the 63-year-old politician.

"I welcome the move to sell. It would stop the party from haemorrhaging (financially). (But) it would have been a better choice to sell it to another media group.

"At least then there will still be space for competition and the community and politicians could have their views printed," he added.

Nanyang Holdings reported over RM6 million in losses for the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, Chua also said the sale was inevitable and that everybody 'knew this would happen'.

"From 2001, we knew this (Nanyang being sold to Tiong) would happen ... time has revealed all. The Chinese community has always known this, this is no secret," he added.

Asked if he was hinting at a possible 'secret pact' between MCA and the business tycoon since the party took over Nanyang in 2001, he replied: "Ask those people who were involved in the decision-making process."

On whether today's incident is an indication of the future where the four dailies will blackball certain issues and opinions, Chua provided a cryptic response.

"In the past, the Chinese community has acted in its own way, quietly ... circumstances and time will show the will of the community," he said, without elaborating.

Chua also stressed on the importance of media independence. "It (the media) cannot be owned by political parties and it should not be monopolised. This is to ensure that everyone have the right and freedom to express their views."

Tiong has pledged to uphold media independence but critics are far from convinced.

Presently, the only major Chinese newspaper outside the Tiong empire is Oriental Daily, which is owned by KTS Group, a logging company also from Sarawak.

Ling must apologise

In a related development, former MCA deputy president Ah Lek called on his ex-boss Ling ( photo ) to issue an apology over the Nanyang debacle.

"He was the sole person responsible for it. Without Ling, as the president of the party, there will be no acquisition of Nanyang. It's a fact, he cannot deny that," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

He said Ling had continued to push for the deal despite the fact that it received strong protests from Chinese associations and a large number of party members themselves were against it.

Ah Lek was referring to press reports that MCA had to pay RM50 million just to service the interest on the loan it took to acquire Nanyang.

"Based on depreciation per share, we can see the losses, at least or close to RM100 million," he added.

And he issued this challenge to his ex-party boss: "If he is gentleman enough, he must come forward to apologise to the Chinese community, to all the party members. He must do it at least, it is still not too late to do so.

"Stop blaming other people, especially present leaders. They (the present leaders) were misled into accepting his motive for the deal. He must apologise," he repeated.

Ah Lek ( right ) also said the Chinese community had not forgiven MCA for acting against their wishes, even prompting a boycott of Nanyang Siang Pau .

But he praised the present MCA leadership for taking the bold decision to dispose off the controlling stake in order to cut losses that the party had to incur.

"This is my personal view. When you inherit a sick vehicle and in order to avoid it being disastrous, I congratulate the leadership for disposing it. Without Chinese community support, the newspaper would be dying," he said.