Speculation that well-connected entrepreneur Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing may be asked to mediate in the ugly power struggle between the MCA's top two is gaining momemtum.

Malaysiakini

's report yesterday, ' MCA - President vs Deputy ' , is certain to add more grist to the rumour mill. As a long-time member of MCA, I very much hope the rumour comes true.

We have to acknowledge that MCA is in a civil war. There are no neutrals in the party.

External assistance by an honest broker is the only viable option.

The fight between Ong Tee Keat and Dr Chua Soi Lek has gone beyond the normal rivalry for influence common in all political parties.

Each of these two men no longer attempts to hide his ultimate objective of finishing off his rival and yanking out the thorn from the body of the party.

They do not seem to care that the madness of their chosen course would most likely result in the break-up of our beloved party.

After the disastrous electoral losses suffered last year, a violent split into two or more splinter parties would mean the final nail in the coffin of MCA.

Ong and Chua must be brought back to their senses.

We voted them in as president and deputy president to hold the party positions as trustees for the beneficiaries, who are its members and, above all, the Malaysian Chinese community.

MCA is not the private property of either individual or the two of them.

They owe the members the obligation to work amicably together to administer the MCA and present a united front while representing the interests of the Malaysian Chinese community at the negotiation table of the Barisan Nasional.

Is that responsibility so difficult for Ong and Chua to understand?

Too many times in the past had selfish MCA leaders taken the party to the brink of a break-up.

In a sense, those squabbles were less damaging to the Barisan and the Chinese community as they happened when the Barisan was firmly in control of the government and the country.

Today, that control has been shaken by a gale force wind by the results of the March 2008 general election. MCA itself was reduced to 15 members in parliament and lost in almost all Chinese majority seats.

Worse, Chinese support for the Barisan is reported to have plunged to 15 percent in some constituencies since the elections.

This is a time for consolidation, for revamping and rebuilding. It is surely not the time to fight for the fruits of a tree that has lost most of its leaves in the gale and with its trunk nearly uprooted.

Don't do stupid things. Get your priorities right. It's time to nurture the injured tree back to health instead of scrambling for the fruits while the tree shrivels and dies.

Call in Tan Sri Lim to get Ong and Chua to sit down and talk peace seriously.

Everyone in MCA knows that it was Tan Sri Lim who brokered the power transition that ended the bickering between the Ling Liong Sik and Lim Ah Lek factions even though there was minimal media publicity and public acknowledgement of Tan Sri Lim's role.

However, what many are unaware of is how close to disintegration the MCA went then because Ling's Team A and Ah Lek's Team B were on the verge of filing a slew of lawsuits against each other.

Tan Sri Lim then mediated successfully between the rival camps because he had the confidence and backing of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was the prime minister.

This time, Prime Minister Najib Razak should support Tan Sri Lim if he is invited to mediate once again in MCA because a united MCA would strengthen the Barisan.

Today, the future of MCA is extremely uncertain.

It has lost the support of the majority of Malaysian Chinese and lost influence within the Barisan. It appears to be serving no useful purpose.

Yet, its leaders are obsessed with fighting each other to the death for power within the party. This doesn't make sense.

What this fight has achieved so far is only to make MCA a laughing stock. We may be the first party to be laughed out of existence.

Please, Ong and Chua, give your support to mediation for the sake of your party, the Malaysian Chinese community and the continued stability of the Barisan and the federal government.