In what can be interpreted as a direct endorsement for Dr Chua Soi Lek, and closing of the door for Liow Tiong Lai, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today backed the Registrar of Societies (ROS) decision to reinstate Chua as the MCA deputy president.

NONE Speaking at a press conference in Parliament, the Barisan Nasional chieftain described the ROS' stunning decision as "purely legal".

According to Najib, this is how the ROS interpreted the MCA constitution.

"The constitution is based on certain provisions which requires two-thirds majority to remove anyone in the party whether appointed or elected.

"Now based on that, that is why they (ROS) said Chua is still the deputy and this is the same provision that keeps Ong Tee Keat as president," he said.

Najib added that the ROS has to be consistent as it cannot make two different decisions when the case is the same.

"You cannot have one principle on the president, and another on the deputy. MCA has decided that part of the constitution, the ROS only interpreted the constitution," he said.

Yesterday, Liow and his faction refused to recognise the ROS’ decision.

The health minister, who was appointed MCA number two 19 days ago, added that he reserves the right to file an appeal or take the matter to court.

Legal aspect overcome

Najib, however, refused to be drawn in when he was asked whether this was an acceptable solution for the ruling coalition.

He said that the solution to end the party leadership crisis involved being "legally and politically correct".

NONE "The first part of the solution has to be legally correct. The second part of it has to be politically correct and this is up to the incumbent MCA leaders now to bring it down to the members and the community.

"Whatever the solution is, it has to be legally and politically correct," he said.

According to Najib ( right ), MCA has 'overcome' the legal aspect of the crisis when Chua was reinstated as deputy president yesterday.

"However, the second part (politically correct) is the most challenging because they have to go down to the ground and serve the people.

"They have to convince the community that MCA is a party that champions Chinese and Malaysians as a whole," he added.

Government posts a separate issue

In a related development, Najib was also asked if Deputy Finance Minister Chor Chee Heung's expulsion from the party yesterday will affect his cabinet position.

Najib said, the government issue is "separate" and he has not thought about it.

chor chee heung "The most important thing is now to sort out the unity plan with the MCA members and also to the Chinese community," he said.

Yesterday, Ong sacked four central committee members aligned to deputy president Liow Tiong Lai, including Chor ( left ), Chai Kim Sen, Yoo Wei How and Gan Hon Su.

They were among the 16 CC members who inked a memorandum last week calling for a extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to decide on whether to hold a fresh elections.

All four were appointed by Ong but have switched their allegiance to his newly-named deputy since the party's controversial Oct 10 EGM.

1 party, 2 deputy presidents: ROS ready for court