The undercurrents of disunity within MCA are becoming "small streams" and unlikely to impact negatively o­n the party's performance in the next general election, said its president Dr Ling Liong Sik today.

He said party members were "getting a little bit fed up with unneccessary undercurrents" and wanted to get o­n with their work, citing the newly launched Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar).

"The members want to go o­n, the work must go o­n. Utar is too important to be undermined by such undercurrents. The people's response to the Utar project is very, very good," he told reporters after chairing a o­ne-hour presidential council meeting at the party headquarters.

"The mood has changed. Everywhere we go, people are happy with what we are doing. They support Utar. The undercurrents are becoming little streams - slow, friendly streams," he said.

Ling was asked to comment o­n party secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh's statement in a Chinese newspaper that undercurrents of rivalry and disunity continued to split MCA into two.

Split not serious

Ting also reportedly said the peace plan proposed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad last April did not completely resolve the power struggle which resulted in a year-long open bickering between top leaders.

The peace plan, implemented just three months before the party's triennial election, ruled that all party leaders would remain in their posts for another term without having to go through contests.

However, Ling denied that the split in the party was as serious as claimed by Ting.

"Undercurrents (of disunity) exist within any organisation, whether it is the Hokkien association or Lion's Club. It is a just matter of degree," said the party chief who has been in power since 1987.

The veteran poliician added, MCA was thankful to the prime minister for his initiative in implementing the peace plan.

"To a large extent, he (Mahathir) has succeeded in bringing stability back to the party. Because of stability, we could build so many things. Utar (became a) reality in less than o­ne year after it was approved," he said.

When asked, he said the split among MCA members was lessening and it will not affect the party's ability to deliver the Chinese vote in the next national polls, due by November 2004.

"More and more members know we have a positive and constructive agenda. They will not follow the destructive and unconstructive agenda," he said.

Separate events

Ling and his deputy Lim Ah Lek have been leading two feuding factions - known as Team A and Team B respectively - since the party president initiated a move to buy two Chinese newspapers in May 2001.

Until Mahathir intervened last year, Team B leaders had repeatedly criticised Ling's leadership and urged him to step down.

The feuding factions have since stopped their attacks of each other openly in the media but continued to organise separate events to mobilise their supporters.

Leaders from both sides, however, are expected to turn up together at the party's 54th anniversary dinner in Johor o­n Sunday.