Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will step in to help resolve the split within MCA, the second largest party in the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional, by meeting the leaders of the two feuding factions, Team A and Team B.

The chairperson of BN, Mahathir said the problems between MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik and his deputy Lim Ah Lek would not do any good to the coalition.

I think, misunderstandings such as this will not bring any benefit and I believe they can settle the matter through negotiations, Mahathir was quoted as saying in a Bernama report today.

He added that the meeting would take place anytime now but did not elaborate on whether there will be separate meetings or only one.

The meeting is expected to be held before the premier leaves for an official visit to Morocco, Libya and Bahrain from April 15 to 21.

EGM controversy

Team B led by Lim had on Tuesday defied the party ruling and issued a notice to convene an extraordinary general meeting on April 21, in a bid to set up an independent committee to verify the list of 138,000 new members recruited late last year.

According to Team B leaders, the list was tainted with many dubious names who were signed up as members unwittingly. But Team A led by Ling insisted that the list had been cleaned up with the help of the National Registration Department (NRD).

Mahathir, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had in recent months reportedly held separate meetings with both Ling and Lim over the leadership crisis within the party.

Mahathir had earlier today visited Kelantan and held meetings with several Umno state leaders, including the partys state chief Mustapa Mohamed.

The north-eastern state had been rife with talk that there was an attempt to oust Mustapa, though this has been denied by a few Umno leaders including deputy president Abdullah and deputy state chief Annuar Musa.