By now, most MCA delegates would have suffered an overdose of party politics. But there's a lot more to come.

On Nov 28, some 2,500 central delegates will attend their second extraordinary general meeting (EGM), less than seven weeks after the Oct 10 EGM which sparked a fresh round of factional feud.

mca nominations 2005 150805 ong tee kiat At this second EGM, delegates will decide whether there should be new leadership elections, which the requisitionists - led by party vice-president Liow Tiong Lai - argued would resolve the bitter infighting.

However, party boss Ong Tee Keat (left ) has thrown in a spanner in the works for the rebel faction by convening the party's annual general meeting (AGM), which had been put off in October to make way for the first EGM, on Dec 5.

With the same party delegates having to attend two meetings in one week, Ong is hoping that many, especially those from out of town, would opt out from attending the second EGM.

Ong told Malaysiakini in an SMS message early this morning that he intended to hold the AGM seven days after the second EGM.

NONE The AGM will be Tee Keat's first as MCA president and it will an acid test on whether the delegates accept his 'greater unity plan' which he stitched with his estranged deputy, Chua Soi Lek.

The Liow ( right ) faction yesterday announced that it would push ahead with the second EGM after MCA secretary-general Wong Foon Meng refused to send out notices of the meeting to the party delegates.

Under the MCA constitution, the requisitionists themselves can issue the notice for the meeting, after 16 - or one-third - of the party's powerful central committee petitioned for the EGM .

Double EGMs

This will be the second time in MCA's history that party members will be holding an EGM by themselves without it being sanctioned by the incumbent leadership.

The first was during the 20-month-long battle between MCA leaders Neo Yee Pan and Tan Koon Swan in 1984, which was widely regarded as the most serious party crisis ever.

The factional war saw more than a dozen top party leaders sacked, the matter being brought to court, and even then deputy premier Ghafar Baba called upon to mediate.

Neo was already fighting with Tan for the leadership succession when Lee San Choon was party president. When Lee retired in 1983, Neo was appointed as acting president.

At the MCA elections a year later, Tan accused Neo's faction of filling the party with 'phantom members' and called for a special committee to discuss the issue.

lee kim sai His motion was however rejected by the central committee, most of whom were Neo's men.

Neo subsequently used the disciplinary committee to sack 14 leaders from Tan's faction, including Tan, Lee Kim Sai ( left ) and Ling Liong Sik.

After the sacking, Tan's faction managed to round up enough signatures from the central delegates to call for an EGM, but this was not approved by the Neo-controlled central committee.

The situation was so tensed that the police had to intervene and ordered the cancellation of the EGM, which was fixed for April 29.

Tan later managed to organise another EGM on May 6, but the legitimacy of this meeting was questioned by Neo and it was challenged in court.

Meanwhile, Tan supporters sought a court injunction against party divisions from holding elections.

Umno's intervention

Umno eventually had to finally step in.

In January 1985, both Neo and Tan factions signed a peace deal in front of then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Both sides agreed to withdraw all court cases, rescind existing disciplinary actions and call for an EGM on May 31.

However, the peace deal did not solve the 'phantom members' controversy, and both sides went back to the trenches soon after.

Ghafar was brought in to end the squabble. The deputy premier headed a special mediation committee but he too, failed to bring peace in MCA.

Barisan Nasional eventually sent an ultimatum to MCA to solve the internecine feud within three months, otherwise the party would be told to leave the ruling coalition.

Finally, MCA managed to have party elections on Nov 24, 1985 which saw Tan defeating Neo by a huge margin.

ling liong sik Tan, however, did not last long as MCA president. A year later, he was arrested in Singapore for criminal breach of trust relating to the collapse of the Pan-El company.

With Tan out of the way, Ling ( right ) took over the leadership and brought a period of relative stability in MCA until the Team A-Team B split in 2001.

The division was over the party's takeover of two Chinese newspaper, Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , with Team A led by Ling in favour of the takeover, while Team B led by his deputy, Lim Ah Lek, against it.

Again, Mahathir had to intervene and a leadership transition was mooted with Ling and Lim, both resigning in 2003 to make way for their proteges, Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy respectively.

But Ka Ting and Chan did not last long. Faced with a unprecedented setback in the 2008 general election, Tee Keat and Chua were swept into office late last year.

The rest, as they say, is history.