The opinion piece by Mr Yap Chin Kwee, 'Ling, don't stay on a day longer than necessary' (June 15) is timely and good advice.

I have been an MCA member for 21 years and am still a life member (for now). I have held various party positions at all levels of the party over those years. I write as an objective party member and do not support either faction in the present crisis facing the party. I only support what is right and just.

I have lost faith in the leadership of Dr Ling Liong Sik and his 'kitchen cabinet' of Ong Ka Ting and Fong Chan Onn ever since revelations of Ling's son's involvement in big business surfaced several years ago.

I believe that the huge debts now owed to various financial institutions by Ling's son have severely compromised Ling's position and integrity. No leader can afford to cling on to power with such an overbearing problem hanging over his head.

The general feeling that the MCA under his leadership has gone to the dogs is very widespread. It has been the 'unspoken' word in the party that Ling dares not 'fight' too hard for the Chinese community's rights and interests because he cannot afford to antagonise or provoke Big Brother in Umno, lest Big Brother 'directs' the banks to 'bankrupt' his son and indirectly the whole family.

From the feelings on the ground, it is no exaggeration to say that the Chinese will desert the party in droves when the next general elections comes around.

Even before the big business mess the Ling family got themselves into, Ling and Co (Ong and Fong) already had the reputation of being 'Chinese Umno members' or 'running dogs', as the DAP has been fond of calling MCA leaders. Ong and Fong 'need' Ling's patronage to continue in power and have sold their souls by keeping quiet and condoning Ling's business follies to the detriment of party and community interests.

I write this letter out of utter frustration that the party is in crisis yet again, after 17 years. The discontentment against Ling and Co has been brewing in the party's rank and file for a long time now. The Nanyang issue has given the opponents of Ling and Co the opportunity to mount a challenge to dislodge the present leaders who have been riding roughshod over those who do not toe Ling's line. This is evident in the manner in which the Nanyang was taken over, without prior discussion and consultation with those leaders not in his kitchen cabinet and by brooking no opposition to his own personal agenda.

Therefore, it comes as no huge surprise that Lim Ah Lek, Chua Jui Meng and Co have seized the chance after sensing correctly the mood against Ling and Co within the party and the Chinese community at large.

I cannot predict the outcome of the present struggle but after having gone through the last party crisis in 1984 and having experienced Dr Neo Yee Pan's stubborn clinging to power despite the rank and file objection against him, I can only observe the similarities in the behaviour of the faction in control now and that of Neo's faction 17 years ago.