Friday, May 02, 2008

Jeff Ooi & Penang's 'Desperate Housewives'

After the recent general election I thought former CM Koh Tsu Koon had behaved like a gentleman in the manner in which he had conducted the handing over of his CM-ship to incoming Lim Guan Eng. I then made a promise not to call him R.B. anymore.

He further impressed me when he advised or appealed to (whichever you prefer) the PM to continue the mega projects such as the 2nd bridge.

Beautiful words like bipartisanship, working for the people of Penang, 'a gentleman of a politician' all sprang happily to mind.

Though the current Penang motto is ‘Bersatu dan Setia’ (United and Loyal), it was formerly ‘Let Penang Lead’, but Uncle told me that he remembered it as ‘Leading we serve’. And I thought, how appropriate that it fell upon a Penangite, the Island’s former CM (despite his obsequious and sycophantic behaviour towards his UMNO counterparts) to show the way with a new dawn of gentlemanly and civilised politics.

Alas, when I read in Malaysiakini about Lim Guan Eng bemoaning Bunga Tanjung should have been handed over, I grew mad again at the dog-in-the-manger attitude of the former office holders of Bunga Tanjung, and the Pertubuhan’s advisor, Koh TK.

The Pertubuhan Bunga Tanjung is a non-government body meant for wives of state assemblypersons and members of both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara from the ruling party, and not an association exclusively for the spouses of BN state assemblypersons and parliament representatives in Penang.

Lim GE stated that the club should not have been dissolved as it had been by its former president Chui Kah Peng, the wife of Koh.

At its last meeting, Chui with 45 members did a nasty by dissolving Pertubuhan Bunga Tanjung as if the incoming DAP ADUNs and their political allies, the new ruling party, were all bachelor boys (perhaps, much as a few might have wished wistfully ha ha ha!).

And apparently she did it after the DAP-led coalition had already won the State election and became its new government, making it (and not the BN) the State's ruling party.

And what had been the consequences of that mean-spirited and alleged illegal dissolution of Bunga Tanjung?

Well, Bunga Tanjung turned into Lallang Tanjung and gave away all its funds to a host of organizations in an arrogant scorched-earth conduct.

Malaysiakini reported that “The Association of Wives of Federal Ministers and Deputy Ministers or Bakti was the biggest recipient with RM550,000 while the Bureau on Learning Difficulties (Bold) received RM220,000 to support the Bold-Bunga Tanjung Centre activities in Penang mainland. The remaining RM20,665 was distributed among three organisations – Penang Cheshire Home, Mental Health Association of Penang and Mount Miriam Hospital.”

I don’t mind so much the monetary gifts to charitable organisations like the Penang Cheshire Home, Mental Health Association of Penang and Mount Miriam Hospital. But I believe the money ‘given’ to Bakti must be recovered as it was not for Chui to give away in the first place.


Helllooooo Chui, your husband and his Gerakan ADUNs including MCA ones were wiped out, totally. So we are all wondering how you could have acted as President of the Pertubuhan Bunga Tanjung when your husband was not even an ADUN, let alone being in the State's ruling party?

Thus Lim GE demanded that Koh, as the former CM-advisor of the club, bloody well explain. Yes, how could a non member of Bunga Tanjung donate the Pertubuhan’s funds away like Russians burning Moscow before the advance of the German Wehrmacht in Ops Barbarossa.

Lim said: "We want Bunga Tanjung advisor not to hide behind the skirt, but to come out in open to explain." Aiyoyo, Ah Koon ;-)

"The BN wives may have not thought that their husbands would lose power and we too never thought we would wrest power.”

"Well it happened, thanks to the political tsunami on March 8 polls. So ideally the association should have been handed over to us and indeed I should be its advisor by virtue of its constitution."

Lim’s chief of staff Ooi Chuan Ann [BTW, he’s better known as Jeff Ooi] had labelled Chui and the other members as "desperate housewives" on his blog. Wow, did he mean they are like those ‘wives’ on the TV series?

But Chui was less than impressed with Jeff's description, deciding that attack would be the best form of defence. She has challenged both Lim and Ooi to a public debate on the matter and gave them 48 hours to respond.


Wow, I hope Jeff won’t get sued again ;-) but this lady is what Penangites would described as cheen chnea ock ay (garang or fierce).

Koh rejected Lim GE’s call for him to explain, saying he does not owe Lim any explanation and that he has full confidence in his wife and her colleagues to handle the matter.

Now, did he mean 'full confidence' in his wife’s ability to debate or in the giving away of funds which, according to Lim GE’s reading of the Pertubuhan’s constitution, wasn’t hers to give away, as a ex President by default of her husband's party losing the political rule of Penang?

Maybe Ah Koon is more scared of his missus than Lim GE ;-) Aiyah, kesian Ah Koon nia, boe tnea tioh ee knia-bor ;-)

13 comments:

  1. Aiyah, it was very small change compared to what Khir Toyol & Mrs. did to Balkis in Selangor...

    The principle is the same, but I'm willing to let Ah Khoon and Mrs. off a bit lightly on account of the sheer difference in magnitude.

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  2. bunga tunjung is a society registered under the society act and does not belong to the penang state government. if it commit any wrong doing let the society act handles it so cannot see why the cm is so interested in to, so he can be the advisor to all his PR wifes or husband ???????

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  3. "Hell hath no fury like a RABID WHORE scorned"...applies to 2 women in 2 states involved.

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  4. Mr Koh Tsu Koon, Sir.

    When I respect an individual, I address him just as Mr... Sir (like Mr President, Sir). This, I truly do but will continue to do so only if you heed the following:

    Speaking from my heart.

    1. You love your wife... so speak up and explain for her.

    2. You love Penangites, they want
    to know the truth, so speak up and explain the truth.

    Please, forget about whether you owe Mr Lim Guan Eng any explanation or not...that is not the point...because You owe it to YOURSELF!

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  5. Donations given Bungah Tanjong were for charitable causes.They used their husbands influence with husbands knowledge to collect big donations.One dinner we were forced to attend but refused to donate, they collected over R700,000 They spent some of the money for their own activities,eg badminton matches all over the country,dinners with karoake thrown in,outside junkets etc.following in their feminine ways the steps of their dear husbands abuse of office.If amount is $1 or $1million liability is the same, punishment varies.

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  6. If KTK, Mdm Chui thinks (actually said) that he does not owe Mr Lim GE / Penangites an explanation because the issue is not extremely serious,can they personally please make good the money given out to B...., instead be given to charity? Pleaseeeee...the amount or the principle of it is not serious to you ...whhhaaaaat.

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  7. anon 8.40pm. those ladies were very angry at jeff ooi for labelling them 'desperate housewives' and now you label them 'rabid whore' ayoh, lagi teruk! nanti ah they sue you lor! :)

    actually i feel it was not wrong of jeff to label them as desperate housewives at all. chui keep saying they are not housewives, they are professionals with jobs. ayoh. why so stupid. even if a woman works she still keep the house, hence is a housewife. once a woman married and staying with family in a house, she is a housewife... what's so wrong with that?

    and now because of their action... so scared of the money being taken away from them, quickly donated them away, esp. un-necessary to bakti and hastily dissovle the association - doesn't that sound like they are desperate? so desperate housewives are apt lah. (oops. hope they won't gi hong ka wah siang ka gi hong jeff)

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  9. Like I said, siapa makan cili... Actually Jeff Ooi's intention was obviously to have a catchy title for his write-up. That wasn't exactly labeling those 'housewives' as such. Note the difference! So it seems the heated up egos grabbed hold of it and stuck that label on themselves like, desperately, just to justify a counter-attack.

    But I do agree, what's meant for charity should be for charity. Not for ego (or greed?) battles to be fought over. Whatever cash allocated or donated shouldn't be considered personal collections and should be officially handed over to whoever gets elected to take over. The public-service ideals has been given over to self-serving centered concept for too long, it has become the norm.

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  10. Puan Chui Kah Peng in dissolving PBT on 9 Mar and transferring its funds to Bakti was behaving just like the British did during WW2 in adopting scorched earth tactics..Destroy your facilities rather than let the enemy take over...

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  11. In reference to Malaysiakini's May 2nd article "Resolve Bunga Tanjung issue amicably" and The Sun's May 2nd article "Not desperate Nor housewives" - Madam Chui was quoted as saying "We are not housewives. We are professionals. We have jobs and duties. Our time is precious" Was she trying to say that housewives are unprofessional and they do not have jobs and duties and their time is not precious?" I find her statement arrogant and belittling all housewives.

    There are good housewives and there are bad professionals as well. Many housewives nowadays are highly educated and many gave up their careers for the sake of their families. They choose to be housewives so that they can spend more quality time with the family especially their young children. This does not mean they are lesser to any professionals. Remember our mothers and grandmothers were housewives too and they brought us up well. I hope Mdm Chui will be more sensive in her statements in future.

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  12. Managed to obtain the screenshot Jeff's original blog that the PBT were showing off..

    http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jeffooionbungatanjunganpr5.jpg

    Jeff was wise/clever to put in the words "Can Madam Chui clarify". gives him a way out... but i think the issue here is more how he said that the info about Mount Miriam "had yet to receive a single sen thus far" as confirmed information from the hospital. Maybe he better be careful about his sources.

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  13. BAKTI? HMMMMM...why them when BOLD in Penang needs all the funds possible? Aiya, it shows why the previous govt became so complacent and irrelevant. I will never vote for BN, ever.

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