The allegations that phantom members exist in MCA raised a new spectre today when several state leaders claimed that students applying to study in the party-owned Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) were unwittingly enlisted as party cadres.

MCA Perak leaders made the searing expos after verifying the recently released membership list that contains about 35,000 new members in the state.

They alleged that some 90 students were recruited  many while under the eligible age of 18  without their knowledge early last year.

A check revealed that most of the recruits were from a batch of students who applied to study at the TARC branch in Kampar last year soon after getting their SPM and SPTM examination results. Many of them were accepted by the college while some were rejected.

Some of the students were from out of state. Particulars of the students on their applications and photocopies of their identification cards were believed to be fraudulently used by some MCA branch leaders to swell their rank.

These information could have been misused by certain quarters for their own interests, said one leader who requested to remain anonymous.

It is bad. Students should not be members of any political parties and in this case, it is worse because many of them did not choose to become MCA members, he added.

TARC currently has five campuses located in Kuala Lumpur, Segamat (Johor), Kampar (Perak), Karak (Pahang) and Penang.

Party sources said complaints had been filed with the 11-member elections steering committee headed by party secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh. The state liaison chairperson for Perak is Ong Ka Chuan, who is also the party national organising secretary.

9,121 'dubious members'

Yesterday, Ting said complaints about 9,121 dubious members throughout the country have been filed to date. The party membership list was displayed for 21 days, about a week more than previous elections, for closer scrutiny because of the phantom membership allegations.

However, another Perak leader said the longer display time to allow members to verify the membership list was not as effective as projected.

Our state liaison office was closed for a few days and was not co-operative in providing us with the list when it reopened, said the leader who declined to be named.

In the days after the membership list was displayed at MCA offices, party leaders aligned to the two opposing factions known as Team A and Team B began hurling accusations at each other for manufacturing phantom members in the run-up to the party elections scheduled in June.

Leaders from Team B led by party deputy president Lim Ah Lek claimed that the party grassroots were concerned about the 135,000 new members signed up last year, of whom thousands were said to be phantom members.

The new members constitute over 10 percent of the total 1.1 million members.

Team A leader and party president Dr Ling Liong Sik had challenged his opponents to produce evidence to substantiate their allegation.

He also maintained that the party is determined to ensure that the membership list is as clean as possible and that an independent body will be set up to investigate any discrepancies if necessary.

Allegations ping-pong

Last week, member of Parliament Donald Lim Siang Chai who is aligned to Ling even alleged that centenarian members  some of whom are no longer alive  exist in Lims home base in Pahang.

This was followed by yet another allegation yesterday by MCA state assembly representative Lee Yuen Fong, now believed to be in Team Bs fold, that there are some 3,300 phantom members in a division in Negeri Sembilan.

Both factions had met separately with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi several times over the issue.

Ling had repeatedly stressed that the party could resolve its leadership crisis on its own at the upcoming party election while Lim maintained that it is important to brief Mahathir, who is also Barisan Nasionals chairperson, about problems of the second largest party in the ruling coalition.

The MCA elections will start at branch level at end of March, followed by division level in April, state May, and central leadership June.

Under the party constitution, a branch must be set up with a minimum 50 members before it is allowed to be represented at the divisional annual meeting. This will translate into delegates at state and eventually national level where party leaders are chosen every three years.