KUALA LUMPUR – Former Bangi MP and DAP leader Ong Kian Ming has claimed Lim Guan Eng botched his chances in the central executive committee (CEC) in 2022 after a disagreement over the then secretary-general accepting the chairman post.
Spilling the tea on the #Workaround podcast, Ong said the discord started when he told Lim privately after the Sheraton Move in 2020 to reconsider taking the chairman post given his ongoing corruption trial, which meant that he could not focus on party matters.
“It escalated to a disagreement because he felt that I shouldn’t have voiced my views, and that it was a betrayal of trust, given his support for me all this time.
“Because of that, he asked the (DAP) branches under his control, especially those in Penang, not to vote for me during the CEC election 2022.”
He said the tiff with Lim – who is now DAP chairman – was not something he spoke about publicly before.
Ong was asked by a listener to “describe an argument you had that shaped the person you are today”.
“And because of that it shaped the person that I am today… because it is a blessing in disguise. I don’t hold any position at the national level which means that I can return to academia.”
Two months after the CEC polls in March 2022, Ong announced that he was taking a break from politics, and later pulled out from the race to defend his seat during the November 2022 general election.
Ong is now the philosophy, politics and economics programme director at Taylor’s University.
“This is my passion (academia). Hopefully, I can train a new generation of leaders in politics and policymaking. So far, I think I have made the right decisions.”
He is also a former DAP assistant national director of political education.
In the CEC polls, Ong garnered 535 votes and ranked 50th, missing the cut. – February 7, 2024