With all sincerity, I hope the deputy chairperson of Barisan Nasional Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would exercise his power to order an immediate halt to all the party elections of MCA until a clean membership list has been agreed upon by both contending groups.

Otherwise, the losers would not be convinced of their defeat. They might drag the case to court. Top leaders of the lost group may not even be able to control the emotion of their grassroots members which number tens of thousands.

I am afraid some local groups of MCA leaders who are unhappy with Dr Ling Liong Sik, or sympathisers of Gerakan or the opposition may keep the knowledge of genuinely bogus members secret for now, and then use it against him and his faction in court in the event Team A wins.

If the court finds out there is any dishonesty in the membership list, it may declare the whole MCA illegal as it did to Umno in 1988. The entire Barisan Nasional would then be adversely affected. It is therefore better to be cautious and to make sure the list is clean and acceptable to all major leaders in MCA. Abdullah has the great responsibility to ensure a fair, free and clean party election in MCA.

The clean list should be published on a website with search function (like the electoral roll prepared by the Election Commission) so that all non-MCA Chinese Malaysians can check if their names are wrongly registered as MCA members or not. Otherwise, if some opposition members and supporters find out their names in the MCA membership list, they may also take legal action to declare the party election null and void.

It is time the Pak Lah act firmly and without fear or favour.