Will they step down - and when? This is the question facing MCA members who are keenly awaiting the outcome of Friday's meeting of the central committee, which is expected to discuss the thorny issue of leadership change.

The party has been openly split into two factions since May 2001, with Team A led by president Dr Ling Liong Sik and Team B by his deputy, Lim Ah Lek.

Whether the two reconcile their differences and work according to the peace plan is very much a matter of speculation at present.

At stake is unity within Barisan Nasional whose chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad - also the prime minister - is keen to resolve the internal crisis in the Chinese-based party before the next general election.

Under the peace plan brokered by Mahathir at the height of the dispute last year, all party posts will remained uncontested for three years until 2005. He is said to have since kick-started the second round of negotiations o­n the troubled peace plan.