KUALA LUMPUR: Housing and local government minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said he was the loser in party election, and therefore would not demand anything from the party, including Cabinet and appointed party posts.

He said the Cabinet and party posts he is holding today have been given to him by MCA, and by right he should surrender these posts to the party for a decision.

"If the party wants me to quit, I'll do just that. This is what team spirit is all about."

Ka Chuan made the above declaration when asked by Sin Chew Daily in an exclusive interview whether he would resign from the Cabinet and as Perak state liaison committee chairman.

He also said he would meet up with the newly elected party president Ong Tee Keat in the near future, and would surrender his party and Cabinet posts to the party for a decision.

"I'm a loser, and cannot ask for this and that like a victor. Moreover, I'm not that kind of person."

However he said if MCA thought he could still play a positive role in the party, he would be willing to contribute.

"I've been a central committee member for 21 years. Since I became an elected representative in 1986, all the things I have possessed have been given to me by the party. Therefore, I can only do everything to repay the party, and have nothing to ask from it."

On the candidate to fill up the secretary-general post, he said he would not want to be implicated, and let the party president make the decision.

However, he said whatever decision the party has made, as a MP, he would actively play his role as an elected representative.

"This is not the first time I've been defeated. I lost in the 2004 general elections. I know how to heal my own wounds."

He said he had very high expectations from the newly elected party president Datuk Ong Tee Keat and deputy president Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek, especially when MCA is going through a very tough and challenging time.

After the election results were released, his younger brother Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting didn't talk with him about party elections, offering him instead only one advice.

He said Ka Ting did not contact him immediately after the results were released, not a word of consolation or anything else from him until the following day when they chatted again on their mother's death anniversary.

"Other than family things, he only gave me an advice. He said, 'No one understands you better than yourself. Other people's opinions are secondary. Your own final decision is the most important.'" (Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)