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“Oi! Ticket! Oi! Ticket!” shouted one harried bus conductor as he ambles along the aisle leading to the rear of the vehicle. It is akin to hearing the misled members of MCA shouting “Ong Tee Keat! Ong Tee Keat!” during the previous party elections to elect the office bearers of one Malaysian Chinese Association.
That was a dream scenario as Datuk Ong Tee Keat has never been a bus conductor, nor is he ever contemplating stepping down as the newly elected party president of MCA to assume the role of a hardworking bus conductor. Born on the 22nd of November 1956 to a fishmonger, he attended the Confucian (C) high school at Kuala Lumpur from 1963 to 1974 and spending his childhood in Petaling Street where he lived. After obtaining his MCE certificate, he attended the Methodist Boys School to pursue the HSC certificate. He spent his tertiary education days at the Universiti of Malaya, graduating with an honorary degree in mechanical engineering in 1981. It can be said that Ong was a local boy through and through as compared to Koh Tsu Koon, who obtained his first degree (Physics) from Ivy League Princeton and his doctorate (economics and sociology of education) from the University of Chicago. A case of “Poor Boy, Rich Boy”. He went to work immediately, securing an appointment as a mechanical engineer with Wagon Engineering Sdn Bhd. In 1983, he was with Transtrade Sdn Bhd as the Sales Manager but returned to Wagon Engineering in 1984, now as their Senior Engineer. He was promoted to be the Sales Manager in 1986 before leaving the employment scene altogether as his foray into politics started by the appointment as the political secretary to Dato’ Lee Kim Sai (Minister of Labor). Surprisingly elected to Parliament in 1989 as the MP for Ampang Jaya in Selangor after beating the former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Harun Idris (who defected from UMNO to Semangat 46), he continued being the political secretary to Dato’ Lee Kim Sai (now Minister of Housing & Local Government) for another year until he was selected to be the Deputy Speaker in the Dewan Rakyat. Here, he spent 9 years of his political life before being rewarded with a deputy ministerial portfolio in 1999 when he was selected to be the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports in a cabinet reshuffle. Not considered to be one of the seriously important ministries but yet an appointed minister is still a minister. In the 2004 federal elections, Ong was selected to contest the Pandan (Selangor) seat. This was an important offering because Pandan has always been considered a very safe BN constituency. It also meant that the top people at MCA and UMNO are assessing his future to be amongst the future leaders of both the party and the nation. OTK went on to win that seat with a commanding majority over 14,000 votes. With his star on the rise within MCA as a member of the other Ong’s Team A (as opposed to Chua’s Team B) Ong was transferred to become the Deputy Minister of Higher Education in 2006 and finally becoming a full minister when he accepted the position of Transport Minister in 2008 after the incumbent MCA president, Ong Ka Ting, decided not to re-contest the party polls after the 2008 Tsunami, and after the position became vacant when Chan Kong Choy did a Houdini and skipped the disgrace of being voted out by choosing not to defend his parliamentary seat – unlike Samy Vellu and Rich Boy Koh who thought the world still belonged to them. Winning the MCA presidency against Chua Jui Ming was not a foregone conclusion because the latter is very well capable of pulling a fast one when nobody’s looking. Not this time though, Mr Moustache failed to get onto the bus and Mr Bus Conductor got the upper hand. Driving towards the sunset perhaps? Not that smooth a ride though because Mr XXX Chua Soi Lek got on the bus when the bus conductor was busy fending off Mr Moustache. From a homegrown third grade actor wannabe starring in a low quality, low-cost, X-rated, D-Grade film to star billing in a blockbuster named “Battle Royale” is no small feat. The bus conductor better be wary of this actor. Surviving a sex scandal in a political arena is not easy. Surviving and then being triumphant after a sex scandal is almost unbelievable. But I digress form the most important question of all. “Frankly speaking Mr. Bus Conductor, all I want to know is whether you will sell off the Chinese heritage as you are selling those tickets?” - Hakim Joe
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