MCA set to hold EGM this month

The party central committee meeting tomorrow is expected give its approval for the emergency general meeting.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Emergency MCA Central Committee (CC) meeting tomorrow will likely give the green light for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to be held in order to revoke the “no cabinet position” decision, taken by the party prior to the 13th General Election.

Party leaders said they expected party secretary-general Kong Cho Ha to issue the notice to the central delegates soon to attend the EGM, with the date likely to be known after the emergency CC meeting.

“The party EGM must be held within 30 days from the date the party headquarters receives the requisition. However, it can be held much earlier than that if the party president uses his power under the party constitution to direct the secretary-general to issue a notice for the EGM.

“Should the party president decide to use his power, the notice can be shortened to seven days, which means the EGM can be held by the middle of this month,” said MCA veteran leader, Yap Pian Hon.

He said since more than one third (14) of the CC members had submitted the requisition, the party leadership had to abide by it.

Should the notice not be issued within five days from the date of receipt of the requisition, under Article 31 of the party constitution, the named requisionists or any one of them representing all requisionists can issue the notice of the EGM to the central delegates.

On Sept 9, MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai and 13 other central committee members handed a petition calling for an EGM to reinstate former organising secretary Tee Siew Keong who was suspended by the central committee.

However, their request had to be put on hold as there was a lack of time to conduct the EGM because the new batch of central delegates was to be elected on
Sept 22.

“Now since the election of the central delegates are over and with two groups having requested for an EGM, it would likely happen. In this case, I believe the party president will use his presidential power to shorten the notice of the EGM. With the emergency CC meeting on tomorrow, the earliest notice can be sent out is the following day (Friday) and the EGM may be held on Oct 13, which is on a Sunday,” said Yap.

Party sources said with the latest move by those aligned to Dr Chua, Liow and his supporters were left without much choice but to face the EGM.

In fact, Liow himself had already said he was ready to face the EGM and that he supported the motion on government posts on grounds that it reflected the wishes of the Chinese community.

“I think, the best they (Liow’s group) can do is to negotiate for a motion on Tee’s suspension as the third motion since those aligned to Dr Chua want to include the motion to censure Liow as the second motion. Whether they can include that motion is another question,” said a party source who did not wish to be identified.

Liow had said that he would urge the CC to include an additional resolution to seek the opinion of the central delegates over the central committee’s decision to reinstate Tee’s membership.

The same party source explained that it would not be a problem for the first motion — to revoke the “no government position” stand at the EGM as there is “an urgency” for party members to fill the government posts.

He said it would be too late if they waited until the annual general meeting scheduled for Dec 21, to do so.

“For instance, you need to submit the list of the potential candidates for the village chief and other government posts such as local councillor posts by this month (October). It will take at least two months for the vetting process to be completed,” explained a party source.

Moreover, he said MCA had been given a period of six months for them to decide whether to take up the one ministerial post and a deputy minister post, which had been reserved for them, before the end of this year.

Initially, there were talks that some CC members, including Dr Chua, might resign en bloc to allow a party election to be held earlier than December as well as to overturn the “no government position” decision.

However, with the latest development, it seems the CC wants the EGM to be held first in order to revoke the “no government position” stand before dealing with the party election scheduled for December.

Political observers noted that by holding the EGM first, it would likely dent Liow’s chances to go for the party’s top position should the motion to censure him be adopted at the EGM.

MCA, with assets worth about two billion ringgit, had gone through numerous EGMs in the past five years to resolve its internal crisis.

– Bernama