The report prepared by an MCA Youth investigation committee two years ago named at least 30 delegates and central committee members as those involved in the fracas at the 2001 annual general assembly.

The committee headed by then acting Youth secretary-general Liow Tiong Lai, aligned to party deputy president Lim Ah Lek, said it had interviewed over 20 delegates, journalists and witnesses who were present at the meeting before drafting the 45-page document.

Photographs, accompanied by detailed explanations, were used in the report to reveal the actions of several party members.

Jeers and chairs

Prominent among these 'displays' were that:

Eight delegates, many of whom from the Batu division in MCA Wilayah Persekutuan, jeered and shouted at Lim and Youth chief o­ng Tee Keat when they were delivering their speeches in the presence of Umno Youth chief Hishamuddin Hussein;

o­ne delegate from Cheras division snatched the microphone from the speaker's table and rushed down the stage;

Another delegate from Batu division attempted to take away o­ng's microphone after the opening of the AGM;

Youth organising secretary Hang Chin Peng signalled the delegates before the disturbances at the speaker's stable (Hang is aligned to party president Dr Ling Liong Sik. He was sacked by o­ng after the report was prepared and recently made a comeback as a MCA Youth vice-president and MCA state Youth chief);

Six central committee members yelled at the speaker to urge him to disqualify himself from chairing the AGM;

Several MCA vanguard members who were supposed to maintain order at the AGM took off their uniforms and joined the crowd to jeer and shout at o­ng;

Delegates threw chairs at each other, with eight of them identified to be delegates from Batu, Klang, Gombak, Bentong and Lipis divisions; and

Two teenagers and non-delegates wearing T-shirts and jeans under their party uniforms sat at the staircase outside the hall;

Report ignored

The report said that although many delegates who testified to the committee claimed that they were attacked and had merely acted in self-defence, "the evidence available doe not support their case".

It cited the presence of a group of teenagers outside the hall just before the fracas. They looked too young to be delegates and wore jeans and T-shirts under their party uniform.

"Eyewitnesses also testified that the outsiders were given MCA uniforms to change into (at) the toilet," the report said.

It concluded that there were "pre-arranged plans to disrupt the smooth proceeding of the AGM and concerted attempts to cause the meeting to be aborted".

In view of these problems, the report recommended that central delegates and vanguard members be issued with identification cards, "if possible a smart card", complete with photographs and other details in order to "prevent outsiders and imposters from entering the meeting hall".

The committee further recommended that future AGMs be "recorded from various angles" in the conference hall.

"All delegates should not be allowed to bring into the hall any sound-emitting instrument or equipment (such as whistles and air-horns) which can cause disturbances and nuisance," it added.

The Youth AGM that year had drawn national attention because of the fracas punctuated by a bomb scare, use of stink bombs, chair-throwing and fist-fights. The report was submitted to Ling ( photo ) for further action, but was brushed aside at the time.

The pro-Ling MCA central committee instead adopted a separate report prepared by six party veterans and took o­ng and the AGM speaker, Lim Hong Sang, to task for "premeditating the ruckus".

As a result of that, the entire Youth central committee was suspended for six months from December 2001.