updated version

MCA secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh today said the extraordinary general meeting which was pushed for by Team B would not be convened as 49 out of the 810 delegates who had originally backed the EGM, have pulled out from the petition.

With this latest twist in the on-going party factional feud, the petition for the EGM falls short of the required number of 794 or one-third of the party delegates.

As the party secretary-general, I have to be impartial in making the decision, which is based on constitution. I was not siding with anybody, stressed Ting when announcing the decision at the MCA headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Ting added that the 49 had sent confirmation of their withdrawal from the EGM petition over the past few days.

He said many of them claimed in the presence of the commissioner of oath that they were misled into signing the requisition.

Ting, who is aligned to party president Dr Ling Liong Siks Team A, said in addition to the withdrawal, the verification carried out by the party administrative staff also found one signature appearing twice, and three signatures that do not belong to existing delegates.

EGM does not comply with constitution

This means that Team Bs requisition for an EGM last Friday was left with only 757 signatures, short of 37 needed to fulfill the constitutional requirement that at least one-third of party delegates can call for an EGM. The party has 2,384 delegates.

Ting said today the 49 delegates who withdrew from the requisition were from various states: Negeri Sembilan (15), Perak (7), Melaka (5), Penang (5), Selangor (4), Johor (4), Kedah (4), Perlis (3), Kelantan (1) and Wilayah Persekutuan (1).

However, he stressed that the resolutions that Team B sought to approve at the proposed EGM were reasons enough for the party not to go ahead with the meeting.

The resolutions they proposed have the effect of amending the party constitution and [therefore] did not comply with Article 168 under the party constitution, he said.

Article 168 states that the general assembly has the right to amend the party constitution provided that the proposed amendments were duly adopted by the central committee or at a divisional assembly.

Politically, this decision is also in line with the wishes of the 1,526 delegates who have signed a petition to oppose the calling of the EGM, he added.

Team B to respond

Team B had proposed the EGM to discuss the setting up of a nine-member Verification and Elections Committee headed by former deputy president Lee Kim Sai and to dissolve the existing party elections steering committee led by Ting.

The resolutions also called on the new committee to investigate and remove from the membership list names that were registered inappropriately and to prepare a new schedule for this years party polls.

The committee would also evaluate party elections at whatever level that have taken place and take action it deems necessary and proper in its absolute discretion as well as delegate such power to any person it deems fit.

More importantly, the committees authority would not be meddled with by any organ, committee, officer or body of the party except the general assembly.

When asked, Ting said he had already sent a letter to one of the three key EGM requisitionists Tang See Hang, who is also a central committee member, informing him about the rjection.

Asked what the party would do if Team B were to defy his decision and issue their own notice to call for the EGM, Ting replied, I do not want to speculate.

Team B will convene a press conference tomorrow to outline their next course of action.