MCA Youth back in business, Wanita member in slapping incident suspended

comments     YS Tong     Published     Updated

While MCA Youth 'recovered' its power today after being suspended for six months, the party presidential council ruled that a party Wanita member be suspended pending investigation into her act of slapping her state leader last week.

Party president Dr Ling Liong Sik announced this decision after a council meeting that lasted almost three hours this evening at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur.

"We have noted that the Youth AGM went on smoothly. In recognition of this, we have due confidence that things have improved in the Youth," he said.

The three-member committee headed by party veteran Wang Choon Wing, which had been administering the Youth over the past six months had "cooled things down considerably well" and would be dissolved immediately, added Ling,

The committee was appointed by the party central committee to run the Youth since Dec 20 last year after Youth chief Ong Tee Keat was found responsible for causing the fracas at the movement's annual general assembly earlier.

The meeting was marred by a bomb hoax, fist-fights, stink bombs and chairs being hurled around when delegates aligned to two feuding factions — Team A led by Ling and Team B led by his second in command Lim Ah Lek — turned unruly.

The split resulted from a tussle for power in the run-up to the party election this year. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had later proposed a peace plan to end the bickering, which had stated, among others, that the status quo be preserved for all party posts.

Grassroots resistance

However, there has been some grassroots resistance to the implementation of the peace plan.

At the divisional and state elections recently, some delegates burnt copies of the party constitution, some pelted eggs at the leaders, and a few divisions even defied the 'no-contest' rule and proceeded with balloting.

Last Friday, at the MCA Wanita AGM, Sabah's Kampung Bahagia branch Wanita chairperson Lo Nyit Yin shocked the others who were present when she slapped her state Wanita chief Agnes Shim, allegedly over the allocation of party posts there.

Ling told reporters today that the presidential council had decided to suspend Lo until investigation by the disciplinary committee headed by party deputy president Lim.

"I am very sad that though 99.9 percent of the members have accepted the peace plan, someone still chose to slap a state leader," said Ling.

He said there was no time frame as to when the investigation will be completed but added that he hoped it will be as soon as possible.

When asked, he said discipline in the party was "improving".

Earlier this afternoon, Wanita chairperson Dr Ng Yen Yen had told a press conference that she would recommend to the disciplinary committee that Lo be sacked if she was found guilty of breaching party discipline.



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