None of the MCA leaders were trying to bypass their president Dr Ling Liong Sik when they joined two Chinese groups to discuss the language issue with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday, said Youth chief Ong Tee Keat.

He said the meeting was a result of several discussions with the two groups Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) and the Federation of Seven Clans and Associations initiated by several MCA leaders in their personal capacity weeks ago.

These include party deputy president Lim Ah Lek, vice-president Chua Jui Meng, and himself, who are in Team B, the faction opposing Ling's leadership.

Ong said the party has not deliberated what it will do about the government's proposal to teach Mathematics and Science in English at great length in the central committee thus far though "enough time and opportunities have been given".

"Since we are equally duty-bound to the Chinese community, those of us who have good rapport with the guilds and associations decided to meet them, to have an exchange of ideas and to solicit their views on the subject.

Wide coverage

"I am not interested in dwelling on whether we bypassed the party president or not (on the issue). I do not want to get embroiled in any unproductive exchange of words," he said when contacted for comments on his involvement in the meeting which received wide coverage today.

Flanking Mahathir at a press conference after the meeting yesterday evening were Ong and Chua.

Lim was supposed to be present as well but had to rush home to Kuantan, Pahang after his mother passed away in the morning.

Ong claimed that Ling had only "touched on the issue in passing" during his presidential speech at the MCA annual general assembly in July.

"I do not know of any party meeting with the Chinese clans and associations on the issue. Anybody can ask their leaders and see if they have been consulted," he said.

Mahathir received a 20-member delegation led by ACCCIM president Lim Guan Teik at yesterday's meeting in Putrajaya, believed to have been coordinated by the prime minister's close aides and several Team B leaders.

Feuding on again

MCA has been split into two camps Ling-led Team A and Lim-led Team B since the party took over two Chinese dailies last year. The conflict worsened in the run-up to the party's triennial election scheduled for July.

However, Mahathir proposed a peace plan in April to end the year-long bickering between the two feuding factions. The plan retained all party leaders in their posts for another term.

Following MCA pro-Team A central committee's decision last Thursday to drop Lim as the disciplinary committee chairperson, a post traditionally held by the party's No 2, observers feel that the factional feud is beginning to rear its ugly head again.

In a related development, Mahathir said this morning that the two factions should have discussed the appointment of its disciplinary committee members before making any decision.

He said he realised that Lim was unsuitable to be the committee chief due to the disciplinary controversies in the party.

"But there should have been consultations between both sides on who should sit on the committee," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

He added he did not wish to interfere in the party's internal problems.