Former deputy tourism minister Donald Lim Siang Chai today called on the leadership of MCA to dispose of its remaining shares in Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd, believed to be worth around RM46 million, at the current market price or one-sixth of its original purchase price of RM300 million.

"The Chinese community was not very happy with MCA over the purchase of Nanyang. Of course, when we (MCA) purchased it, there was a reason for it.

donald lim pc on nanyang siangpau issue 061008 03.jpg "But now I am proposing that MCA sells the Nanyang shares, especially as the Chinese community is very sensitive about this (political parties controlling the press).

Lim, who is also MCA vice-president, claimed that party president Ong Ka Ting was the mastermind of the purchase in 2001.

"The person responsible for it was Ong Ka Ting, not Datuk Seri Ling (Liong Sik) who doesn’t understand Mandarin," he said, further claiming that a party leader played the role of "chief editor" for all the Chinese newspapers in the country for many years. "I think you all know who he is," he quipped.

Lim’s remarks targeting the incumbent leadership are likely to raise eyebrows as they come on the heels of an earlier request that the party’s Sabah chief be made deputy chief minister. His call over the weekend has been widely slammed .

Lim, who is eyeing the deputy president’s post, will be facing a 3-cornered fight against secretary general Ong Ka Chuan and former health minister Chua Soi Lek in the coming MCA elections.

A show of political strength

"Some of you might ask me why I am raising this (call for MCA to dispose Nanyang shares). In life, we must remember that saying the right thing at the wrong time is wrong," he said.

"The nation is moving towards change, change in everything," he said, adding that politicians must accept the fact that people no longer tolerated a media controlled by the government or certain political parties.

"We (MCA) went ahead with the purchase, but towards the end of the voting (at the MCA extraordinary general meeting in 2001), it was not merely an issue of purchasing a newspaper. It was a show of political strength.

"Of course, at that time I agreed to the purchase, though deep in my heart I did not really agree," he added.

"This is not the first time I am raising this issue (disposal of shares). I am not making this call because I am going to contest in the party elections," he claimed, saying that the time had come for reforms within MCA.

'Not fair to blame Ka Ting'

Lim also called the Barisan Nasional-led government to review existing broadcasting policies by making them fair to all, regardless of political affiliation. "The government must be more transparent," he added.

ong ka ting 02 In response to Lim’s allegation that Ka Ting was the mastermind of the Nanyang share purchase, a party insider said, "It is not fair to blame him (Ka Ting) as Ling (at that time) was cornering the purchase of the shares without (Ka Ting’s) knowledge."

In 2006, it was reported that MCA decided to sell 21.02 per cent of its 44.4 percent of shares in Nanyang Holdings to Ezywood Options Sdn Bhd whose directors were Sarawak timber tycoon and media baron Tiong Hiew King and his son, Chiong Yong.

The increasing losses suffered by the newspaper were said to be the key factors behind the decision by MCA to dispose part of the shares under the party’s financial arm, Huaren Holdings Sdn Bhd.