MCA presidential candidate Chua Jui Meng today lashed out at the Star daily, an English-language publication belonging to the party, for attempting to discredit him in the run-up to the party polls this Saturday.

Chua said that he was disappointment with the daily's "blatant attempt to discredit a candidate not aligned to your political masters".

chua jui meng pc 130308 4 "Your reporter and editorial team went all out to put words in my mouth and to paint me as a power hungry man," said Chua in his open letter addressed to the daily's editor-in-chief Wong Chun Wai. [Click here to read the letter]

Chua's discontent with the daily was over a report published on Oct 11 in which the presidential aspirant was quoted as saying that he would ‘sacrifice' some of his colleagues so that he could be appointed to the cabinet if he was elected as the president.

"I wish to be very clear. I never made the sacrifice statement," said Chua in his letter.

"Your newspaper should have issued an apology for putting words in my mouth," he added.

Chua also pointed out that the daily had failed to publish an apology over the matter although it was agreed by Wong.

"However to my disappointment on Oct 12, you published an article saying that I claimed that my statement was taken out of context," said Chua, a former MCA vice-president.

In his letter, Chua also explained that the president of MCA always had the prerogative to submit a list of minister and deputy ministers from the party to the prime minister.

"This does not make the MCA president a power hungry man," he said.

Caught on video

chua jui ming star journalist biased interview on the mca 2009 party election 151008 Chua also said that his campaign team was aware of the bias of the newspaper and as such had recorded the said interview on camera to ensure the daily's ‘honesty'.

"The video will show how the reporter attempted to make me seem power hungry but was instead given a free lesson on the Malaysian political process," he said.

Chua said that he had uploaded the video to the YouTube site "for all Malaysians to see".

"I am certain many Malaysians' share in my disappointment with the lack of journalistic integrity displayed by your newspaper," he concluded in his one-page letter.

Meanwhile Wong, when contacted, said that the daily had carried a clarification on the matter, which he deemed was sufficient.

Chua is in a bitter straight fight with incumbent vice-president Ong Tee Keat for the top post in this Saturday's party polls.

He is widely seen as an outsider compared to Ong who has the support from the outgoing president Ong Ka Ting.

Ka Ting has decided not to defend his post.

Watch the Chua interview on YouTube l 5 min

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