By RK Anand
UPDATED KUALA LUMPUR: A top level MIC leader has accused MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek of using the Gerakan Anti-Samy Vellu (GAS) movement as a "smokescreen" for his woes in the party.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he told FMT that Chua was using the MCA-owned English daily The Star to blow up the GAS issue, giving much prominence to its leaders such as V Mugilan.
“MCA is weak and becoming irrelevant after it underwent a leadership crisis and it hopes to create a similar situation in MIC. Talk is that Chua is facing problems, and a mutiny is brewing.
“To make matters worse, his son's appointment to the cabinet has also set tongues wagging. Apparently, this has not gone down well with some MCA leaders,” he said.
After taking over MCA's leadership reins, Chua repeatedly said that he would not accept a senator post or cabinet appointment as he wanted to concentrate on rebuilding the strife-torn party.
However, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak caught many by surprise when he announced on Tuesday that Chua's son Tee Yong, who is also Labis MP, has been appointed as a deputy minister.
'Samy and gang furious'
Meanwhile, the MIC leader said party president S Samy Vellu and those aligned to him were furious with Chua and The Star for publishing the “negative reports”.
“Even the GAS rally on Sunday was portrayed as a major event when all other news organisations, including the more critical online media, stopped short of calling it a failure.
“But The Star devoted several pages, and hiked the figure to 5,000 when the others reported that only 3,000 or so had turned up for the event,” he added.
The MIC leader claimed that MCA and The Star were also being used by “certain individuals” to condemn Samy Vellu and pressure him to step down.
He said it was surprising that the daily was publishing negative news about another Barisan Nasional component party.
“The newspaper has always been supportive of MIC but all of a sudden, we see the newspaper going for the kill,” he said.
MIC to launch counter attack
In view of this, the leader said MIC would launch a counter attack on MCA and Chua through the media. A campaign would also be started to call for a boycott of The Star.
He said that Tamil Nesan, owned by Samy Vellu's family, would start publishing negative news about MCA and Chua.
“We want to stress that Chua and MCA have become irrelevant to BN, and the longer Chua stays in power, the more difficult it would be for the Chinese community to come back to BN
“Chua is a liability to BN due to his past actions and MIC would stress a change in leadership in MCA,” said the leader, noting the dismal Chinese support during two recent by-elections.
The newly-minted MCA president was previously embroiled in a sex scandal, which had forced him to resign both as a MP and minister.
Despite mustering enough support to clinch the presidency during the party polls this year, Chua is still being roasted by critics on moral grounds.
'No directive from Chua'
In an immediate reaction, an MCA source told FMT that Chua has never issued any directive to The Star to attack MIC or its president.
"We are in the same team and we don't interfere in the problems of other BN component parties. This is an unfair allegation," he said.
The source, who declined to be named, said other media organisations such as the Umno-linked Utusan Malaysia and TV3 have also been reporting on GAS.
"Samy Vellu started the ball rolling when he sacked Mugilan and the others. This paved the way for GAS to be formed.
"It is news, and The Star is merely reporting on it like the rest. It is not right to blame MCA for this," he added.
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