Comment Newly appointed disciplinary board chairman Ng Cheng Kiat, 67, is virtually unknown by the younger generation of MCA party members but veterans who have worked alongside the lawyer will not hesitate to describe him as a man who dispenses justice in two colours - white or black, with no grey areas in between.

mca disciplinary board pc ng cheng kiat and jimmy low boon hong 201108 04 In hindsight, Ng's appointment by party president Ong Tee Keat to head the disciplinary committee came as no surprise as they share similar traits in their personalities. Known for calling a spade a spade, both leaders have little tolerance for social injustice and are forthright in their views.

Ng ( left ) had a roller-coaster political career before quitting politics after the Ling Liong Sik-Lee Kim Sai tussle ended in 1990.

"After the (Neo) Yee Pan- (Tan) Koon Swan crisis ended, I left for London but I was summoned back and given a government post (under Koon Swan's leadership) although I was disinterested in any appointments in the first place."

"I have not stepped into party headquarters for the past 18 years since I left (active politics)," Ng said.

To illustrate his long absence from active politics, he held up two copies of the party constitution, one dated 1986 and the latest updated copy.

mca disciplinary board pc ng cheng kiat and jimmy low boon hong 201108 06 Accompanied by his deputy, a former state leader from Johor Jimmy Low Boon Hong, Ng said he would look into old cases of complaints and disputes as no new complaints were filed following the recently completed party elections .

Ng said the disciplinary committee will comprise a five-member panel and in the coming weeks, he will look into appointing three more members into the panel. He is widely expected to take his pick from amongst party veterans.

"I will handle the cases justly and there will be no political pressure. The cases will be judged either black or white," Ng pledged.

On the recent verbal tussle between party leaders, Ng opined, "Differences of views are normal in a big party but if everybody behaves like a ‘yes-man', the party will not last.

"After the 308 tsunami, the party should engage in real politics and not petty politics."

A former senator, Ng has mellowed in his political views and is more philosophical and nostalgic, compared to his early days of walking in the corridors of power.

"I read many Chinese classical books on philosophy to prepare for my final days. We come into this world happily and we should make our final exit happily."

A colourful career in politics

ling liong sik 04 In 1983, former acting-president Yee Pan sidelined Koon Swan's core supporters in the central committee line-up who held bureau portfolios, including Ng, Kee Yong Wee, Ling Liong Sik and Wong Mook Leong. They were neither re-appointed nor given alternative appointments in the party.

Ng was in the 15-member pro-Koon Swan faction, who was later expelled from the party by acting-president Yee Pan in 1984.

Ng was also one of the 15 signatories in the central committee who petitioned for the extraordinary general meeting which finally ousted Yee Pan from the party in 1984.

However, Koon Swan's tenure was short-lived as he resigned the following year after the Pan-El debacle, which triggered a stock market collapse in Singapore and Malaysia.

Between 1986 and 1990, Ng was elevated to the post of party secretary-general besides serving as deputy education minister and later minister of housing and local government under Liong Sik's leadership.

Ng has had a fair share of controversies. In 1986, facing pressures from the Chinese School Teachers' Association (Dong Jiao Zhong) and Gerakan, Ng who was also the party's education bureau chief and deputy finance minister at that time, offered to resign if the Chinese language was not incorporated in the new secondary school curriculum.

Vice-president of Dong Jiao Zhong, Tuang Pik King, had claimed that the latest guidelines of the curriculum proposed by the education ministry had not included Chinese as an examination subject. This angered Ng, who demanded that Tuang withdraw his allegation.

lee kim sai Aligned to Lee Kim Sai, Ng was dropped from all his posts when former president Liong Sik emerged victorious from the party's 1990 leadership crisis.