Several MCA Team B leaders who initiated the call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) said today they would only announce the date of requisition at a suitable time due to what party sources described as technical complications.

We cant tell you when we will make the requisition but [it is going to be] very soon, Youth assistant secretary-general Liow Tiong Lai told reporters at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

He said the EGM issue has been blown out of proportion in the media by certain quarters who wished to confuse the party members.

For example, it was reported yesterday that we would submit the requisition at the party headquarters by 5pm but that was not true and the reporters ended up waiting there for nothing, he said, in reference to reports in Chinese newspapers today.

Present with Liow were two other party leaders who had initiated the requisition for an EGM — central committee member Tang See Hang and Perak state assembly representative Lee Chee Leong.

Despite being asked repeatedly, the trio refused to reveal the number of signatures collected from central delegates thus far to comply with the party constitution which states that an EGM can be called for if at least one-third of the delegates are for it.

Anti-EGM campaign

Liow criticised party chief and Team A leader Dr Ling Liong Sik for making contradictory remarks about the EGM.

On one hand, he said he welcomed the EGM but on the other hand, he just launched a signature campaign to ask the delegates to object to the calling of EGM, he said.

According to him, the campaign started last night and is taking place in Johor, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

As proof of his allegation about the campaign kick-started by Team A, he showed reporters a copy of the document which he said was distributed among party delegates.

He added Ling should take the initiative to call for an EGM to show his sincerity in solving the controversy over the membership list released recently.

Asked why Team B did not want to call for an EGM now but instead called on Ling to do it, he replied, We are asking him to be sincere [in what he says (about welcoming the EGM)] for once.

Meanwhile, a party source said Team B realised there would be technical complications behind the call for an EGM as there is not enough time for the meeting to be held using the present list of delegates.

The party constitution requires its secretary-general to issue a notice for an EGM within five days after he receives the requisition. The date of the EGM shall not be later than 30 days from the day the requisition is made and the notice must be given at least 21 days before the EGM.

Even if there is an EGM, it could only be held after the April 28 division elections unless the party president calls for one, but the possibility of that is very low, said the source who declined to be named.

The EGM will be based on the list of new delegates, he added.

MCA currently has some 2,400 delegates but party secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh announced recently that the number will rise to 2,667 as a result of an increase in membership.

Team Bs diversion

Another source close to Team A, however, said Team B is trying to delay the call for the EGM so that they could start a fresh round of dispute later on.

They hope to get an EGM after the division elections whereupon the delegates would have been chosen and then Team B would insist on using the old list of delegates instead of the new one, said the division leader on condition of anonymity.

All these are just to sidetrack the conduct of the party elections, he said.

MCA branch elections were concluded on Sunday, paving the way for the division elections at the end of this month, followed by state elections and the annual general assembly in May and June respectively.

The last EGM was held last year on June 24 to vote on the partys acquisition of Nanyang Press Holdings, publisher of two Chinese newspapers. Fifty-three percent of the delegates present had voted for the deal while another 47 percent were against it.