KUALA LUMPUR: The Chinese proverb "two tigers cannot share the same mountain" best describes the rivalry between MCA vice-president Datuk Ong Tee Keat and former vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Although Dr Chua remains mum about his future in MCA, it is an open secret that both men are eyeing the president's post come party elections in October.

(Ong announced his candidacy on July 20.)

However, a not-so-open secret is that both Ong and Dr Chua have been engaging in heated attacks and name calling against each other in cyberspace through their blogs.

Ong drew first blood earlier this month, when he wrote in his campaign website www.ongteekeat.net: "Tainted leaders hoping to make a political comeback cannot expect to wipe the slate clean of their wrongdoings with mere apologies after committing an act that went against social and moral values".
Although Ong did not mention anyone specifically, it was understood that the statement was a swipe at Dr Chua -- who had in January admitted to having an affair and resigned from all party posts after a DVD of him having sex with a woman friend was circulated in Johor.

When asked for a response, Dr Chua only said that he was disappointed with the transport minister's behaviour. His blog at drchua9.blogspot.com made no mention of the "attack".

But this did not stop Ong from accusing Dr Chua of instigating his supporters to post "abusive" comments on the latter's blog.

"Mobilising ghost writers for a massive attack on me would not cleanse one's misdeeds or change the norms. This could be likened to ostriches burying their heads in the sand," Ong wrote on Aug 10.

However, on Monday, it was Dr Chua's turn to strike back. He called Ong a hypocrite, a coward and a puppet of MCA leaders. Ong was also accused of plagiarising his ideas.

It is learned that Ong told a MCA function last Saturday that the party should consider pulling out of Barisan Nasional if Umno continued to champion the concept of ketuanan Melayu.

As his speech was only reported in Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau the next day, Dr Chua accused Ong and other party leaders of media manipulation to show the grassroots, the bulk of whom read only Chinese newspapers, that the endorsed candidate (Ong) for the MCA presidency was a man with the courage to speak out against Umno.

"My challenge to the endorsed candidate (Ong) is for him to send a letter to Umno, repeating his statement that MCA may pull out of BN if Umno does not shed its ketuanan Melayu policies," said Dr Chua on his blog. He challenged Ong to officially issue statements that this would be MCA's policy should he become president.

"If he does not do any of these things, then it would appear that he was just hoping to get political support to attain his ambition without actually intending to walk the talk."

Dr Chua also insinuated that Ong's sudden strong stand against Umno was "inspired" by an earlier posting by him.

"Last week, I openly pointed out that the MCA must review its relationship with Umno. I pointed out that the perception of a master-servant relationship should be removed.

"The candidate endorsed by the current party leadership (Ong) now says the MCA should consider leaving BN. That was the logical conclusion of what I proposed."

Dr Chua said Ong was only good at reacting to other people's statements and did not have it within him to lead the Chinese community.

In an immediate response, Ong blasted Dr Chua of always thinking on behalf of Umno.

"The morally-tainted blogger (Dr Chua) was virtually concerned that the reports in the Chinese dailies would not reach the Umno top brass, so he urged me to write to Umno to state my stand.

"To me, this is totally uncalled for as I always speak my mind freely and fearlessly, without having to seek prior approval from any parties. Besides, anybody in his right frame of mind will know that any statements made in any language in Malaysia would readily be translated into other languages," wrote Ong at 7pm yesterday.

He added that he had always made his stand on mono-ethnic dominance or supremacy very clearly and loudly in the past. The most recent was in an interview with Bernama in May.

"Likewise, I also highlighted the issue about misappropriation of funds for repair works in two Chinese primary schools in Johor in 2006 (where a RM30,000 contract ended up with only work worth RM3,000).

"Recently, during my rounds of visit to Johor, I was told much to my surprise and chagrin that the grassroots leader who reported the case to me had in fact been censured by an ex-top leader in Johor MCA."

(Dr Chua was Johor MCA chief until January.)

The battle for "Mount MCA" has yet to begin, but from the looks of things, it will be all claws and fangs.