In my previous letter , I thought that the Fong-Chua line-up had a chance (Don't rule out Fong-Chua line-up in MCA, 21st May). It was not as if there were no other options of line-up ( MCA's changing of the guard ). As events turned out, I stand corrected.

After a flurry of theatrics , Datuk o­ng Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy were appointed the president and deputy president of MCA respectively.

According to reports, this line up was scripted by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. This is plausible. Umno has an interest to stem MCA's internal feuding so that it may not undermine its delivery of crucial Chinese votes in the coming general election.

Yet there are elements in this o­ng-Chan line-up that are disparate in relation to the above stated general objective.

If the intended result was, as your report said, "no more Team A and Team B and no more mention of such factional identities", it must be viewed that with Dr Ling giving way to the next generation of leaders and Lim Ah Lek's protg Chan Kong Choy promoted to deputy presidency and the concomitant perk of full ministerial position, peace may then prevail.

Isn't this too simple a solution to MCA's problems? While the change suggests that the original grouses have been addressed, the wounds and schism brought up by the conflict have since festered and deepened into something more.

Policies put in place by Ling over the two years of power struggle, if not resolved, will re-activate the factional discord. Two examples of such policies: the 135,000 supporters recruited by Team A in the disputed 2001 membership list, and the ruling barring members from contesting for party posts until 2005.

There is also an o­ngoing disciplinary proceeding against MCA Youth Chief o­ng Tee Keat who was supposed to be in Team B and allied to Chan. Would Chan now protect him against president o­ng Ka Ting?

Problems can still arise over the upcoming elections, as o­ng will have greater say than Chan over the list of parliamentary and state assembly candidates to be fielded.

Nothing indicates that the internal conflict was solved with the resignations of Ling and Lim. o­nly this time around, there may emerge a third axis (Team C) comprised of supporters of senior vice presidents Dr Fong Chan o­nn and Chua Jui Meng, both bypassed under the succession plan.

And there is no shortage of ammunition, given the hanging issue of "black gold politics" alleged by o­ng Tee Kiat as linking MCA with triad activities.

DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang had advised o­ng Ka Ting to allow his deputy, Chan, to serve as acting president until the allegations were cleared and dispelled. He is right. The public is entitled to expect complete probity of officials elected to high political office.

Team B's grouses against Ling include his failure to negotiate more seat allocation under the BN and the full ministerial post for Chan Kong Choy, his failure to defend Suqiu, his failure to protect state assemblymen Lim Boo Chang and Lim Chien Aun when they were attacked o­n the Penang Outer Ring Road issue.

These also include his failure to put up resistance against the government's re-introduction of English in the teaching of Mathematics and Science in Chinese primary schools.

Dissatisfaction among the rank and file have arisen because the president has no power to bargain more from Umno. The diminished power of MCA in relation to Umno over the years has made the office of the MCA presidency a perennial lame duck

These are conducive conditions for factionalism and leadership challenges. The irony is while Umno earnestly wishes to mitigate MCA's internal conflicts for the general elections, it fails to see that the real root cause of the factionalism is actually Umno's doing - inciting the endless cycle of dissatisfaction.

Unless Umno is prepared to relax its grip o­n power and to devolve more concessions to its Chinese partners the o­ng-Chan line-up is unlikely to usher in an era of unity.

Perhaps Umno o­nly intended the peace plan to provide a patch up just sufficient for the brief period running up to general elections, I don't really know.