The light at the end of the tunnel for fresh MCA polls is yet to emerge as no breakthrough came out of today's presidential committee meeting.

chua soi lek 050110 Party deputy president Dr Chua Soi Lek, speaking at a press conference after an almost 6-hour meeting at Wisma MCA, said that to date there were only 13 central committee members who were willing to resign.

He added that the matter will now be referred to the central committee for a final decision. The next central committee meeting has yet to be scheduled.

However he stressed that whatever decision that is made must abide by the party constitution, which requires the resignation of 21 members of 31 elected CC members for fresh polls to be held.

"Everything will be discussed at the CC meeting. Whatever we do, we are bound by the party's constitution. The constitution is very clear; it states that two-thirds of the CC members must resign (in order for fresh polls to take place)," he said.

The presidential council meeting today was chaired by party president Ong Tee Keat but he was not present at the press conference which followed after the meeting as he had to attend a ministerial function.

Also missing from the press conference was vice-president Liow Tiong Lai.

Liow and his 12 supporters in the central committee are the only people who have submitted the resignations from the council to pave way for fresh polls.

Liow's faction is pushing for fresh polls to be held as soon as possible in reaction to the no-confidence vote passed against president Ong at an EGM in October.

Ong has steadfastly refused to quit despite promising to vacate his post should he lose by even one vote, citing there was no legal necessity for him to do so.

Support for interfaith council

Meanwhile on another matter, Chua was asked to comment on political analyst Chandra Muzaffar's suggestion that a Malaysian Harmony Consultative Council be set up to discuss inter-religious issues.

Chua said that MCA supported such an initiative whereby the council will encompass representatives of all religions so as to discuss any matters rationally and without high emotions.

"All the time we have been asking that there should be a forum or a mechanism of interfaith dialogues so there will be better understanding if any issues related to religion can be discussed with better understanding without slogan shouting, and high emotions.

"This is good for the country," he explained.

He also announced that the presidential council had agreed to appoint Labis MP Chua Tee Yong - who is incidentally his son - to head a special task force to study the implication on the impending introduction of Goods and Service Tax (GST).

He further said the for the sake of transparency and credibility, the presidential council has also instructed all party assets including the Star daily, party headquarters Wisma MCA and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) to submit a complete financial report to the council within two weeks.

He said this was done to clear rumours about the mishandling of party assets.

The meeting also discussed preparations for the party's anniversary celebration on March 7.

Chua said the leadership was still discussing whether the celebration should coincide with the party's impending 2009 annual general assembly.

"We are still discussing it (the AGM) because it is the norm that the AGM is opened by the prime minister. So, we are liaising with the Prime Minister's Department on whether he will be available on that date," he said.