KUALA LUMPUR, 5 Sept 2008: MCA vice-president Datuk Ong Tee Keat has called on all Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties to come together as a team to solve the mounting pressures and problems that the coalition is facing after the March 8 general election.
He said BN needed to relook and return to the basic concept of power-sharing that it had been practising. Although Umno was the backbone of BN, it did not control the coalition and should consider seriously the concerns and worries of its other partners, he said.
"The MCA can choose to leave BN, but that is only one of the options. But what is most important and the right thing to do now is that leaders from all component parties come together and address the issues that we are facing," he told reporters here today.
He was asked to comment on Youth chief Datuk Liow Tiong Lai’s statement in a Chinese daily today that the MCA was not to blame for the general election results and he saw no reason for the party to leave BN despite calls by some of its grassroot members to do so.
Meanwhile, on Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail’s refusal to apologise for his racist remarks, Ong said it had now become the internal problem of Umno that should be resolved by the party’s top leadership.
"It’s now entirely up to Umno’s top brass to handle this situation, as the person concerned is a grassroot leader of Umno, the transport minister said.
Earlier, Ong who is Member of Parliament for Pandan, said that he would meet Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to request the state government to abort the cemetery project in Taman Bukit Teratai, following objections from local residents that the project is too near the residential areas and a reserved forest.
He said the project, which was approved by the previous state government, had started on a 5ha site in May, to the dismay of the residents. – Bernama
