Lim tasked to discipline unruly MCA Youth members

comments     YS Tong and Beh Lih Yi     Published     Updated

MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik today said it is up to the party's disciplinary committee headed by his deputy, Lim Ah Lek, to "advise" those involved in the unruly acts at two Youth state annual general meetings yesterday.

Asked if further action will be taken against those found guilty of breaching party discipline, he said the party's disciplinary committee will decide on the matter after meeting the people.

"There is no time-frame [for the task to be completed] but I hope they can start quite soon," said Ling after chairing a two-hour central committee meeting at the MCA headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

MCA Youth members in Selangor and Perak who did not agree to the list of their new state leaders, which was supposed to have been decided through "negotiations" with all interested parties, created a ruckus while protesting at their state-level AGMs yesterday.

Incumbent Selangor MCA Youth deputy chairperson Liew Yuen Kiong had led his supporters to protest against the new list of office-bearers in which he was made to remain as No 2.

Liew claimed that there was no consensus over the list and that outgoing chairperson Ch'ng Toh Eng who had reached the age limit of 45 had chosen a candidate in his camp to fill up the vacancy.

Liew who was eyeing the top post is aligned to 'Team B' led by party deputy chief Lim while Ch'ng is known to be supporting 'Team A' led by Ling.

Despite strong protests, the list was read out and adopted, followed by the adjournment of the AGM.

Liew's supporters subsequently turned rowdy and threw mineral water bottles around, after the lights and microphones in the hall were switched off. They had their own meeting and passed two emergency resolutions, one of which rejected the list.

In Perak, a group of Youth members who claimed to be supporting Team B marched into the venue where their AGM was held and disrupted the proceeding by holding banners and chanting slogans criticising the party top leaders for the ruling that the status quo stays.

Selangor close to solution

However, Ling told reporters that the party leadership was quite satisfied with the level of cooperation and discipline shown by most of the Youth members.

"A vast majority of them have been able to get a single list [that was agreed on by all]," he said.

When asked, he said the party has yet to decide on whether it should acknowledge the Selangor MCA Youth AGM as more than half of the delegates had voted to reject the list of leaders that was read out at the meeting.

"We are quite close to a solution... This [negotiation] is best done out of public view," said Ling who is also the state liaison chairperson for Selangor MCA.

Later after the press conference, Lim told reporters that the disciplinary committee he heads will "do exactly what we were told to do, that is to advise those who were involved".

In April, the strife-torn MCA accepted a peace agenda put forward by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad which among others, called for the status quo for all party posts.

The party was split clean into two camps last May when it took over two Chinese newspapers.

Following the adoption of the peace plan, both the feuding factions had tried to persuade their supporters at all levels not to go into head-on clashes at the party polls but fill up any vacant post through "negotiations" instead.

However, many had ignored this instruction. At the divisional polls last month, chaos erupted when one division burnt copies of the party constitution to mark "the death of democracy within MCA" while several others proceeded with their own balloting.



Malaysiakini
news and views that matter


Sign In