By Kee Thuan Chye

SURE, “politics is the art of the possible” – especially if it involves politicians who can change their tune overnight. That’s why it has been possible for Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek to suddenly become friends again after a year of fierce animosity between them.

The art of the possible also works with politicians who can forget about scruples and put on a show. Nothing exhibits this more clearly than the outwardly awkward reconciliation between these enemies last Thursday. For added value, the would-be usurper of the presidency, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, was also dragged into the act, a seemingly reluctant performer at that. So too was Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha, who had until now kept a dignified low profile.

It was a show that could easily have given the Goons of that famous British TV comedy a run for their asininity. I laughed so much, I had to call it the Most Laughable Farce of the Year, and nominate Ong, Chua and the supporting players for Best Comic Ensemble.

Who in their right mind would give much credence to this quick-glue patch-up that is aimed at reunifying the MCA? From reports, Ong had to leave the press conference room for 10 minutes to bring Liow and Kong in. Scriptwriters would have their imagination fired up by what transpired in those 10 minutes. They would be wondering, too, about what might be simmering behind those counterfeit smiles flashed for the media cameras. The tears of a clown? The resentment of facing a checkmate?

Scriptwriters would also be wondering if there was an unseen hand behind this sudden volte-face on the part of Ong and Chua since both have said that the prime minister gave them his blessing to get back together. Was this an example of deus ex machina, a la Aristotle? Who is the deus (“god” in Latin)? Are these four men in actuality wayang kulit characters putting on a show at the command of their puppet-master?

Sorry, I got carried away with the dramatic possibilities. I actually meant to ask: Where is the concern for integrity in this latest episode of the MCA saga? At what level is the moral quotient of these men who purport to lead the MCA? How is the MCA going to be credible in the eyes of the Chinese community – let’s not even consider the wider Malaysian public – when what its leaders have done must force us to suspend our disbelief?

Besides, how workable is this hasty marriage of inconvenience between Ong and Chua likely to be?

Chua was the duly elected deputy president. Then he got sacked from the party because Ong looked hell-bent on getting him out. That riled Chua up and he fought back with a vengeance. At the Oct 10 EGM, the delegates sent both a message – they registered a vote of no-confidence against Ong as president, and reinstated Chua as an ordinary member but not as deputy president. In short, both should bow out.

Ong had promised to step down if the no-confidence motion was carried by only one vote, but he broke his promise. After the EGM, 20 Central Committee members urged him to resign. Ong said he felt betrayed by his friends and so he turned the tables on them. A deal was struck between him and his former foe. And now they’re back, shaking hands. How does one perceive all that? Can one view these two men as being other than desperadoes who want to cling on to their positions?

Chua now seems to question the outcome of the EGM. Although the delegates voted against his reinstatement as deputy president, he has applied to the Registrar of Societies to clarify whether he should be reinstated in spite of that – since his sacking from the party has been overturned. This doesn’t show good faith. It shows that he is willing to respect only the resolution that is in his favour and to dispute the one that is not. Surely, this will infuriate some of the delegates. How then can his new pact with Ong help to reunify the party?

There is still a chance that the registrar or the home minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, will decide to have Chua restored to his number two post in the party. If that should happen, what would become of Liow, who has meanwhile been elected deputy president, after the EGM, by the Central Committee? Is he going to be eventually played out and left in the cold? What then might be the consequences?

Chua has said rather glibly, “Then I become deputy president lah.” That’s easy to say, but there may be other ramifications. Right after the EGM, Liow was not thinking of only becoming number two; he had ambitions of becoming the chief. Is he likely to quietly go back to being vice-president and be a model MCA man?

On the other hand, what if Chua does not get reinstated? Would his followers be happy that Liow remain in what was Chua’s domain since the latter was the duly elected one whereas Liow was merely elected by the CC? Is everyone going to take it lying down for the sake of reconciliation and unity? Are warring factions likely to become peaceniks overnight?

Ong says the leaders can now “re-focus on strengthening the party to regain the confidence and trust of the Chinese community and Malaysians in general”. Of course he would say that. What else is there? It’s a platitude he needs to hang on to since he didn’t do the honourable thing of stepping down like he said he would. Who can believe what he says now?

Chua, too, has his own platitude. In justifying the reconciliation, he said, “In politics, they say it is an art to make the impossible possible and the possible impossible.” He might have thought he was adding a new twist with the second clause of that statement, but it could even turn out to be a prophecy. What might have been possible for the MCA – the chance of renewal with the departure of the two “tigers” Ong and Chua – could eventually become impossible.

Kee Thuan Chye is the man behind the book, March 8: The Day Malaysia Woke Up