Cheong Peng Choon, who is Perak DAP chief Ngeh Koo Ham’s assistant, came out openly to accuse Fong of using her flip-flop decision on her candidacy in the general election to ensure her “cronies” were given choice constituencies.

The 52-year-old Cheong, who was initially slated for the Tronoh state seat, said Fong’s earlier decision to opt out of the elections was not because of infighting within the party and being forced out by the state committee, as she had claimed when announcing her pullout.

“(DAP adviser) Lim Kit Siang, Ngeh and (Perak DAP secretary) Nga Kor Ming were wrongly blamed for Fong’s decision to not contest,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Fong, he claimed, had wanted to retire in 2004 but decided against it when she found out that her opponent was Perak MCA chief Datuk Ong Ka Chuan.

“She decided to run against him, hoping to lose to Ong, so that it would be a good reason to retire from politics,” he alleged, claiming that Fong stopped serving her constituents a month before the 2004 election.

However, Fong won with a bigger majority and was forced to continue as the Batu Gajah MP, he alleged.

Cheong, who was finally dropped as a candidate and replaced by V. Sivakumar in Tronoh, said Fong decided to contest again because she realised that her initial decision had damaged the party’s image and Lim’s reputation.

Lim was accused of being responsible for Fong’s initial decision to pullout of the race, he said.

Cheong also alleged that incumbent Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran had also taken advantage of Fong’s episode by threatening at the last minute to pull out of the elections if Sivakumar was not fielded in Tronoh.

Fong and Kulasegaran declined to comment on Cheong’s allegations while Ngeh could not be contacted.

On why he was coming out now to talk about Fong, Cheong said he just wanted to clear the names of Lim, Ngeh and Nga.

He added that he was not afraid of disciplinary action because he was merely telling the truth in order to protect the party’s image.