Closer Gerakan-MCA ties

By FOONG PEK YEE

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA and Gerakan would have very close co-operation from now on, MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said. 

He said the two Barisan Nasional component parties’ good ties would benefit each other and also strengthen the coalition. 

Referring to the MCA-Gerakan unity dinner in Ayer Tawar, Perak, last Saturday organised by the Beruas divisions of the two parties,  

Ong said the dinner was something MCA valued very much. 

Gerakan president Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who is also Beruas MP, had described the dinner as “historic” and also “the first step for the two parties to work together for a fair and just Malaysia”. 

“I welcome the statement by Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik and this historic dinner is something we value very much,” Ong said when asked to comment on the dinner, before post Cabinet meeting here yesterday. 

Ong, who is also Housing and Local Government Minister, said the close ties would also bring about more effective services for the people. 

Dr Lim, also the Primary Industries Minister, is a former MCA member who left the party with a splinter group to join Gerakan in 1973. 

The two Barisan component parties tend to cross each other’s path once in a while, like the case of two Penang assemblymen – Lim Boo Chang (Datuk Keramat) and Lim Chien Aun (Bayan Lepas) –who crossed over from Gerakan to MCA after the 1999 general election.