As new allegations of improper disbursement of the MCA JE Humanitarian Fund have surfaced, DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock is threatening to knock on the doors of the MCA headquarters next week to obtain the details of the fund.

Kerk yesterday requested MCA to provide him with the full list of the fund recipients, the criteria MCA used in disbursing the fund and the amount of money handed over to the board of trustees.

If the board or MCA fails to provide me with the requested information by next Monday, I will personally go to the MCA headquarters to obtain the list (of recipients) from MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik, Kerk, who is also the member of Parliament for Kota Melaka, said in a faxed statement today.

His ire was raised following a fresh round of allegations by the Bukit Pelanduk pig farmers that the fund was abused when it was disbursed to 25 people recently with each of them receiving RM21,000.

According to Kerk, the farmers told him the disbursement did not comply with the criteria that only Nipah victims and their families were entitled to receive the fund.

The criteria was announced by the funds supervisory committee member Lim Si Cheng last May, said Kerk.

Public accountability

The DAP leader said MCA cannot ignore the new allegations because every sen in the fund came from public donations.

He said there was proof that MCA abused the fund two years ago when it was discovered that monies were disbursed to those who are neither pig farmers nor Nipah patients.

Out of 4,426 recipients on a list released by Lim in October 2000, 706 were Malay Malaysians, Kerk revealed.

Though MCA might be embarrassed again, the principle of public accountability must prevail, he said.

Kerk added that MCA must also publish the latest details of the fund accounts as the balance announced by the funds trustee, Leong Tang Chang, last November was disputed by the pig farmers.

The farmers claimed that the balance should be RM1.06 million instead of RM584,935.94 as announced by Leong.

The board of trustee was set up in October 2000 to manage the fund balance after MCA announced the list of recipients the same month.