Despite calls for her to honour her promise to quit if Chua Soi Lek is elected as MCA president, Wanita chief Chew Mei Fun has refused to bow down to the mounting public pressure.

"In respect to when and where I should make known my decision publicly, I feel that I need not respond in accordance to anyone’s schedule," she said in a statement emailed to the media.

"In fact, what I have expressed immediately when the election results were announced on March 28, was very clear, which is 'My stand has not changed'.

"I have expressed my stand clearly and I shall not be held liable if there is anyone who still cannot comprehend what I have said."

Chew, a loyalist of the former party boss Ong Ka Ting, has promised to resign from her Wanita chief post if ever Chua was elected president.

Of late, her increasingly untenable ‘fying pan’ has been stirred up by her detractors who have been bombarding her with SMSes, emails and phone calls prodding her to quit.

The most recent being a group set up on popular networking site Facebook, demanding that she fulfill her promise and vacate her post.

Caricature of Chew in Facebook

The group whose membership tally is just slightly above 2,000 fans, featured a cartoon image of the Wanita MCA leader wearing an apron and holding plates of ‘Meehoon’ rice noodles with the caption in Chinese which roughly translates into “Help Chew fry herself”.

chew mei fun facebook caricature 020410 The caricature is a pun on her name which sounds the same as the Chinese words for fried rice noodles.

However, despite the obvious message from the public, she is claiming otherwise.

“Of late, many have persuaded me to stay through SMSes, emails and phone calls.”

Due to return to Malaysia this evening from Bangkok where she attended an international conference, Chew has given reporters, supporters and detractors the slip when she returned this afternoon, earlier than expected, for which she apologised.

“My apologies for changing my flight schedule for an earlier arrival and thus those who would like to meet me would have missed me. I regret to have caused any inconvenience to you.”

Resigned herself to her fate

According to her statement, the delay in her announcement is because she needs to meet up with those who have requested to see her and honour her fellow Wanita CC members with an explanation.

“I will meet up privately with a lot of people who have requested to see me when I return on April 2. I would brief the Wanita CC first. Come April 8, I will announce the decision.”

Judging by her statement, it appeared that Chew has resigned herself to her fate.

“The question of whether I resign or not, although may not be such a big deal, however I need to ensure appropriate and orderly arrangements. I urge all of you to be patient, come April 8 after the Wanita CC meeting, I will announce the decision, which I have made in detail.

“I hope when I finally make the announcement in accordance to my initial intention, it will cause minimal ripples and at the same time will not bring about any quandary to the party.”

Should she quit, Chew will have to give up the plumb post of Women, Family and Community Development deputy minister.

But everything is possible in politics. The re-election of Chua as president is one such miraculous political resurrections. If this holds true, then this may not be the last we hear of Chew.