Dr Chua Soi Lek will not be contesting in the general election, thus becoming the first MCA president not to be fielded.

NONE Chua ( right ) said this will help the party's rejuvenation process by allowing new faces to emerge, while also enabling him to lead MCA's campaign nationwide.

"Today I am walking the talk in allowing new and young leaders in the rejuvenation process so that the party will continue to remain relevant.

"For all these fights and articulations that I have been talking (about), it would be very self-serving if I were to declare myself as a candidate.

"I want to prove a point that I am fighting for a cause - that MCA remains relevant - and continue to lead the party without standing for an elected public office," Chua said in a press statement today.

Chua said nearly half of the candidates that MCA will be fielding are comprised of new faces, and the party is confident that they have a formidable team who is able to "put up a good challenge".

'I'm a full-time president'

He added that this was part of the party's re-invigoration process, following its internal party squabbles between 2008 and 2010.

Chua noted that after he took helm in March 2010, he had worked full-time to turn the party around so that it was more focused, united and motivated.

"In the history of MCA, this is the first time that there is a full-time party president.

NONE "I wish to continue that role in the general election, where I can campaign full-time for BN candidates, particularly for MCA," he said.

Previously, Chua had claimed that he was a " winnable candidate anywhere I go", in response to his claims by his predecessor Ong Tee Keat ( above ) that a video clip of Chua in a sexual tryst that went viral had bogged the party down.

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