An advertisement was published in the China Press today to urge the 28 wives of Serdang MCA members who claimed their husbands frequented 'politically-protected' brothels in the area to come forward and lodge an official complaint.

The move was to check the validity of the charge which appeared in China Press and another Chinese newspaper, Sin Chew Daily , yesterday in the form of an open letter to MCA Wanita chief Dr Ng Yen Yen.

An infuriated MCA veteran and member of parliament for Serdang Yap Pian Hon dismissed the letter bearing the names of the 28 women as a political agenda by certain quarters in the party.

The advertisement stated that the women have one week to prove the validity of their letter and allegation.

The advertisement will also be published in two other Chinese-language dailies, Sin Chew Daily and

Nanyang Siang Pau , in the coming days.

In the letter, the women said they suspected that the brothels, which allegedly operated in mini-hotels in Serdang, were backed by politicians since the police had not acted against them.

Although no names were mentioned, several popular Chinese-language online discussion groups linked Yap to the vice activities, eliciting a strong denial from the MP.

Politically motivated

Yap, who has been the Serdang MP for seven terms, told

malayiskaini on Wednesday that the letter was a politically motivated attempt to "wallop" him and Team B.

MCA split into two camps Team A headed by president Dr Ling Liong Sik and Team B helmed by his deputy Lim Ah Lek when the party took control of two Chinese newspapers, China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau last year.

The deal engineered by Team A garnered strong opposition from several party leaders and the Chinese community.

Yap, who was a former party vice-president, is a key supporter of Team B.

When contacted yesterday, Yap said his division was taking the initiative to publish the advertisement as they were unable to contact the women who had lodged the complaint.

"I had compared the list of names in the published letter with the MCA members' registry and found that they did not match. Thus, we are publishing the advertisement to look for them," he said.

"Furthermore, I didn't receive any call or complaints since the issue was brought up," he added.

Exercise caution

The MP also urged Ng, the party's women's wing chief who is linked to Team A to investigate the matter to determine "if there is a real case".

However, Ng when contacted on Wednesday said she would only comment on the matter when she receives a copy of the letter.

She is currently on leave.

Meanwhile, Yap also called on the media to exercise caution when publishing such allegations.

"I hope the press will also be careful in publishing this kind of letters. They should check how true it is first and ensure that they don't give certain politicians the chance to abuse the freedom of expression," he said.