The MCA President sacks his vice-president and rival, Dato' Chua Jui Meng, as Kedah MCA chief for he reasons he himself did not know why. He told different versions to different newspapers, and when Dato' Chua rebutted his claims, questioning the timing when he had offered his resignation much earlier, he, as usual, dissembled, to hide behind the Prime Minister's shadow. Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed is not one who would desert an ally, however irrelevant he has cometo mean in his grand scheme of things, and quickly backed Dr Ling. The man had a right to do what he wants, and he did the right thing. But even he stopped at what Dr Ling's Talebans tell any who would listen: Dato' Chua be removed from the cabinet. No, said the de factor MCA president, he has no intention of reshuffling his cabinet. So, Dato' Chua would continue as health minister. Why he cannot have a cabinet reshuffle is his own insecurity, but that is another story.

Dr Ling is nervous. He wants to be re-elected MCA president next year. If he fails, he is out of the cabinet and ignored by those who made him president. What frightens him no end is this real fear that Dato' Chua would challenge him for the president. He could possible stall that. But could he if Dato' Chua decides on the deputy presidency as well? If Dato' Chua decides to contest both posts, it puts Dr Ling into a straitjacket. He would have to defend his post to prevent Dato' Chua from neutralising him. I am not sure if Dato' Chua can succeed, but he knows that Dr Ling is vulnerable and can be frightened into submission. In the long history of the MCA, no president has come to office without a bitter fight, leaving the marks unhealed for the rest of their lives. Ask Tun Lim Chong Eu, Tan Sri Lee San Choon, Dato' Seri Neo Yee Pan, Mr Tan Koon Swan, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik. The other two MCA presidents -- Tun Tan Cheng Lock and his son, Tun Tan Siew Sin -- are dead.

When MCA is in trouble, UMNO leaders come to its rescue. Tun Ghafar Baba, later deputy prime minister, was the defacto leader of the MCA in the fratricidal infighting in the early 1970s. One rebel of that time is the same Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik who primary industries minister and the current life-time president of Gerakan. Now the defacto MCA president is the UMNO president, whose intervention Dr Ling hopes would see him through the present crisis. He cannot, for the end result is the decline of MCA as a party of substance. The MCA, like the other parties in the governing coalition, is drunk with the power they vicarously get for being in it. And used that to distance its leaders from the members who elect them. They thought they were smart to do this, but when the ground reacted by confronting them in areas where they were most vulnerable, this supercillious arrogance all but destroy them.

So, even if Dr Ling should be returned, his days are numbered. He is as a fish out of water, jumping up and down and gasping for air and water, which his supporters mistake for a command presence while the others know the end is near. All he could now is to put on a brave front, call in his promissary notes of support, and hope his opponents would see that for confident leadership. Perhaps he could pull it off. Perhaps not. But, as I wrote yesterday, these political games have only one result: the party itself loses out no matter who wins. This becomes worse when any attempt to discuss what ails the MCA seriously, especially if they are members, is viewed by the leaders as treachery. The MCA, like UMNO, MIC, Gerakan, the Sarawak and Sabah parties, are in the same mould and pattern, with the leaders have the same arrogance that causes its members to rebel. In other words, they are all out of touch with reality.