Here's the Bernama story:
MCA Vice-President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has resigned as Health Minister, and from all party posts as well as MP for Labis, with immediate effect.
Full story here.
I was at the Lake Club in KL having coffee (apres le dejeuner) with Rocky when we met a couple of media friends.
I told them that they are having a field day with ready page one stories, in reference to Chua Soi Lek and the sex video scandal.
They smiled knowingly.
One of those things about newspaperism. Making "great" stories from other people's pain, misery and misfortune. To be fair -- other people's joy, happiness and fortune too.
Before I could say anything, my friend said: "He has resigned."
"What? Ahead of the presidential meeting?", I asked.
"Yes...he's calling for a media conference in a while to announce his decision. The MCA emergency meeting is at 5pm," my friend replied.
I don't know whether to be surprised by Chua's turnaround. In a way, I kind of expected him to do that.
Rocky wondered aloud at this change in Chua's decision.
"Oh...well....another page one, huh?" I remarked.
If you ask me, I think it is the right decision. Besides it will save the MCA leadership further problem and complication with regards to his position in the party. Saves the party further embarrassment. Also, saves the Prime Minister the problem of having to announce his sacking from his Cabinet post. Because, frankly, I don't see the PM having a choice in this.
I wish Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek all the best. I know this is a real fix-up job to really do him in. Political intrigue. Not exclusive to the MCA, let me tell you.
I think he knows who is/are behind all this.
And Dr Chua -- have a word with the hotel management!
I am puzzled by the sympathy or support to CSL. What if the minister is a woman, do you think she will get a similar response?
ReplyDeleteDr Chua had no choice, really. I can't wait to hear what Ong Ka Ting has to say about this. Not the PM .. I hope he remains silent. Nothing good could come out of there. Like you always said what your ma would say: If you haven't anything good to say (about something/someone), shut up.
ReplyDeleteOr something like that.
I wish Dr Chua all the best and may his family survive this test. In the end, it was the resignation that made him a real man. How sad. For now at least. In the long run, history would be kind to men and women like Dr Chua.
Thank you.
I strongly disagree with the videotaping and secret cameras in hotel rooms. But I don't agree his clandestine romp is a fix-up. It's his own indiscretion of cheating on his loved ones, esp his claims that he has a close-knitted family.
ReplyDeleteI am also a man as vulnerable as the next guy. The only weapon is to stay away from temptations as far as possible. Why put myself into positions I am likely to compromise and regret for life. I am reminded of a quote, "The pleasure is momentary but the price is horrendous."
two-face said....
ReplyDelete"what if the minister is a woman, do you think she will get a similar response?"
Possible. But the thing is women are not that easy to divulge in illicit affairs and get caught with their skirts down ;} Just told my hubby this scandal is a perfect example of how men create their own downfall when they don't use their right "head" to think. When men equates to lust, they don't think....hehehe. For once, hubby shuts his mouth not to disagree with me. I must have hit the right nerves, huh?
hi&lo,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you it was his indiscretion that did him in. He had been doing it so regularly at the same hotel in the same room that he was a sitting duck to be had.
Other people had been hopping over to the island south of Johore and had been doing for ages without being caught on any tapes.
He must have got careless due to the regularity of doing it.
Rocky, that is exactly what I thought. He had no choice and it was the only decision to make.
ReplyDeleteYetr, on the RTM 9'o'clock English news over the radio, Badawi is quoted as having said that it was a wise decision.
Now, how does this now make either Chua or his decision wise, when it was the only decision to make! Even an idiot would have made that decision knowing there was none other to make.
credits to Dr chua, he was man enough to come out confessing to the public about his little escapade. although he screwed up, whats important to him personally is that his beloved family members has forgiven him. he's resigned after all. all the best to you, Datuk sri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
ReplyDeleteI'm pro-MCA, so what? enough staring. Lets move on.
Point # 1: Mr CSL was quoted somewhere as saying "my mistake was in checking into the same hotel and into the same room all the time." The morality of the act itself is not an issue to him. What is more important to him is that he was caught. So if he was not caught, would he say that he would have continued doing it?
ReplyDeletePoint # 2: Get prepared for a BN spin on this that the party comprises people who are honest, responsible, and yes, real jantans, who are brave and responsible enough to admit their wrongs and resign.
The good thing about this quick resignation is that it will not divert attention from the more pressing (pun intended) things that continue to blight this nation in the early days of 2008.
two-face said...I am puzzled by the sympathy or support to CSL....
ReplyDeletewhy not?..when he had to take the fall just for doing 'his job'. Did'nt you hear the real story..
A new viagra was sent to the Kementerian Kesihatan for testing and approval before selling in the market.CSL being the 'diligent worker' he is ,came forward to test it himself,saving the country at least thousands of ringgit to engage others .Truly a leadership by example .And of course these ongoings are part of govt. secrets protected by OSA. The Ministry wants to avoid a mad rush of volunteer testers should this be made public... but then the hotel had to have cameras...oooh shucks...
So two-face...think again .. y not?
:)
Peace bro!!
For the latest update on
ReplyDeleteMORE PICS & Video – Dr Chua Soi Lek Resignation & Naïve Assumption on Public Acceptance of Confession; Reactions; Hobson’s Choice on Moral Grounds and Negative public feedback & reactions; Resignation: - Responsible, wise and apt
Go H E R E
A very big difference between Soi Lek the man and Soi Lek the minister. As a man he is like any of us.
ReplyDeleteBut as a minister, Soi Lek owes his authority in trust on our behalf. Only men and women of high integrity are qualified to hold high office. Not any Ali, Ah Chong or Muthu will do.
Qualification is secondary, character is primary in public office cos citizens depend on him to make the right decisions for them.
If a minister can betray his family, what are we to him? I may sound harsh on Soi Lek, but I'd rather be kind to the millions who are in need of an efficient health delivery system. Can he still deliver without compromises had he not stepped down?
Political intrigues aside, he dug his own grave. Even at this juncture, the minister tried to be a hero for owning up. Yup he has no other choice except to worm himself out of the hole by diminishing his irresponsible acts.
If it's a one-off romp, that's human. But it was continual that makes him irresponsible and thoughtless, no matter how defiant he is to explain.
There is a saying, "He who is without sin cast the first stone". Someone infringed on his privacy. That's the culprit that needs to be castrated. He maybe infringing on our privacy next.
ReplyDeleteAlchemist
ReplyDeleteWhy is that women are not easy to divulge in illicit affairs? Unless the men are gays, for every man there will be a woman in an affair, kan? Or maybe, just maybe, women are more careful and pandai simpan.
He who is without sin, let him cast the 1st stone.
ReplyDeleteAny quotes must be in the right context. Love the sinner but hate the sin.
We must also make a clear distinction between the man and his office of trust. If he fails to project trust, he has to go. No man is indispensable. Holding a ministerial position is not a right but a responsibility of the highest order.
We may accept failings and a lapse of judgement if all things considered is fair with best efforts and attention. There is no room for compromises.
I like to point out we are to judge and not be judgemental. Judging involves recognising right and wrong. Judgemental is an attitude of I am more right than you or holier than thou.
So when a man betrays his family (who have come out in support of him), it's a wise decision to step down from government. But when a man betrays his people, say... build castles on land reserved for poor people, or get caught with his hands in the cookie jar, they're so easily forgiven.
ReplyDeleteThis is the true two-facedness of our present government.
Hello two-face, we are all laughing at your question/statement la. Best you reserve your judgement and keep mum.
ReplyDeleteSo the man got caught but he owned up and took some form of action. If you really feel the need to judge, base it on what he can be and not solely for what he is (was?).
Two-face said:
ReplyDelete"Why is that women are not easy to divulge in illicit affairs? Unless the men are gays, for every man there will be a woman in an affair, kan? Or maybe, just maybe, women are more careful and pandai simpan."
Simple. Biological. Our blood systems don't need to flow to 2 different directions of 2 heads when we get too excited. Besides, we only have 1 head. Lol.
Sorry, Nuraina & readers. I couldn't resist my reply.
But the real question is, did he practise safe sex?
ReplyDeleteAs health minister, he should have set an example to us rakyat(s)... But I guess what's done is done...
He's screwed... =)
Political fix up? I doubt it. Seems more like a politician making the best of being seen with his pants down, down South of the penninsula. Lust, Caution of the Malaysian kind.
ReplyDeleteWhat suprises me is this wave of smypathy votes for CSL and it is one sandiwara where those who try so hard to paint this romp of the unfaithful kind with a soft hue that indirectly reveal their hard colours.
One of your blog visitors asked a very relevant question: "What if it was a women member of Parliment? Would we be still be seeing this sympathetic flood of stand by your man, and he was such a great man chorus? Again, I doubt it.
Among the first to stone her would be these very sympathetic individuals justifying CLS's actions. Among the first women to throw the stone would be YAB Datuk Sharizat. Remember her pathetic silence and support of the Barisan politicians when the sexist remarks and the "bocor" issue was heating up. Well, that's the establishment culture of "hamba" untuk negara dan Barisan policy.
"Tolerance" is a convenient word and political-correctness is not necessarily a Western political phenomena. In Malaysia we have conveniently embraced a communal, racial or should i say race-obessed worldview - a "rice-bowl" system of situational ethics.
Thats why stickers of "anti-rasuah" on police-cars and badges of police-offices have as much value as used chewing gum stuck at the bottom of a town council garbage truck. People and relationships matter. Badges and slogans can not and will not substitute for the integrity and testimony the nation hungers for.
It is one thing to script eloquent excuses for a politician's sexual escapades because he belongs to a particular race, it is another thing altogether to have the courage to call a leader violating the trust of his wife and the community to be a person who has betrayed such trust.
Some can only see through racial-centered lenses and attempt to "soften" the violation when it was their cousin who got caught with their pants down. Then again, there are those who indirectly sanction doing the same and empathize with such politicians because they are convinced that no one trully desires to walk righteously, and that such standards are not worth practising.
In other words, if its one of your kind, just paint a softer hue over the filth. After all, nobody's perfect right? Lets carry that thought further... why not paint it all the way.
Lets lower the standards for our elected representatives, lets not "criminalise" them when they are caught with other crime, lets go all the way down to illegal earnings, down to illegal properties,rapes,racial profiling, demeaning of women, to deals,to electoral rigging.... do you get my drift?
Why discriminate between one crime against another? Why have one standard for elected parlimentarians and another for the common citizen?
Do you subscribe to the notion that an individual could be privately corrupt and publically clean and "productive". That it matters little if a politician is humping women in hotels, as long as he gives us the appropriate licences and does not effect our buisness in any deterimental way?
This is not an issue of a politician's "private" life. It is about integrity. It is about looking at our children as well as our youth straight in their eyes and being truthful when we say that truthfulness and faithfulness is not a matter of convenience.
Being faithful to one's spouse or being whole or trustworthy to the trust citizens have placed on leaders is not an issue of situational ethics. It is about walking the talk even when no one else think it's worth walking anymore.
Fresh water and salt water cannot both come out from the same source. You can't drink from the cup of corruption and at the same time condemn it.
While the minister resigned, saying even though he was honest some rakyat were holier than him so they wanted him to step down ..bla,bla...bla.
ReplyDeleteI think the minister should understand the moral issue here,even more as a health minister,he should be more introspective of himself and not blame the rakyat of what is considered as basic values of discretion.
Alchemist wrote:
ReplyDelete"Simple. Biological."
Not at all. Whoever thinks that its just men who cheat or think with lust is misguided or delusional.
Both sexes are susceptible to desires and needs. Women are not immune. This episode is not a good indication of society as a whole.
In the end, its good that CSL came clean. He reaps what he sows, its not the post, Ministry of Hell or not, that did him in. He should always remember that.
I pity the wife who, by our stupid patriarchal social standards, is practically forced to stand-by her man. If she were of stronger stuff, she should give him hell - hit him up style.
No one is infallible .No one is indispensible. Power is intoxicating . Beautiful woman is tempting and irresistible . But it takes a brave name like Dr Chua Soi Lek , to apologize in public , for his moral misconduct , albeit conducted privately . The episode is a stark reminder of public figures that not only that they are expected to be clean but seen to be clean in public and in their private life.
ReplyDeleteHe is a good minister.Why we should care about other ppl personel life as long their are not against the law.How u feel if u have same position because having sex with your couple.We should blame the people who record the dvd.Not Chua Soi Lek.Maybe your will be record by someone at one day when u having sex with ur couple and publsihed at pirate dvd,we should blame u because u having sex with u couple.By the way,CSL can have own personel life and having sex with anyone as long is not pelacur.
ReplyDeleteSuara Malaysia
ReplyDeleteThat was a good one.
Remember the MCA Wanita on the china dolls issue where these foreign girls from China, Vietnam etc are causing havoc in the Chinese community? What is funny, I mean really funny, in yesterday's Star was a picture of CSL's women supporters crying when he announced his resignation. These women were crying because of CSL and NOT for his wife and family! Yahoo!!! they are two-face just like me.
I didn't hear Wanita MCA commenting when their (ex)Vice-President was caught in action doing something which they are fighting to stop.
Alchemist, anon 6.22
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can laugh at this - there was a picture in yesterday's Star showing two women supporters of CSL crying when he announced his resignation. Shouldn't they be crying for the wife?
MCA Wanita was voicing grave concern on the involvement of "China Dolls" that caused havoc in Chinese community but was silent when their (ex)Vice-President was doing the same thing that they are fighting against.
To the MCA Wanita, if it's a 60-year old rubber tapper doing it with a China Doll, it will be a grave concern to the community but when your (ex)Vice-President doing the same, he should be given "all the best", "good-luck" wishes.
Are you laughing now?
Two-face,
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about? Who's laughing?
You confused, dude....