MCA vice-president Chua Jui Meng will not attend the crucial party meeting o­n Friday where the resignations of president Dr Ling Liong Sik and his deputy Lim Ah Lek are expected to be announced.

His press secretary, Woon Yoon Teai, said Chua - who is also health minister - will o­nly return o­n Friday evening from Geneva where he is attending a key World Health Organisation (WHO) conference.

"His flight back to Malaysia has been scheduled to arrive at 5.30pm and the minister will then rush off to another function organised by the Malaysian Medical Association," he added when contacted.

News of his absence from the meeting - scheduled for 12 noon at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur - will stoke the already blazing speculations o­n the next leadership since Chua is seen as a possible candidate for the top post.

Umno favourites

Chua is the most senior among the four key vice-presidents and has been holding the post since 1990 - his fourth term.

Although previously he was not viewed as a likely candidate due to his lack of grassroots support, observers claimed that the Team B leader's close ties with Umno could alter this.

MCA has been plagued by a protracted internal crisis which has split the party into two camps - Team A led by the president and Team B by his deputy.

Also in the running for the top posts is Team A-aligned vice-president and Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan o­nn, another Umno favourite.

Fong, who garnered the highest number of votes among the vice-presidents during the last party election in 1999, is much junior to Chua, having o­nly served in that post for two terms.

Despite being widely speculated as a possible successors, a party veteran said vice-presidents o­ng Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy could see their hopes dashed.

The veteran, who declined to be named, said if o­ng - the president's protege - was selected to lead the party, it would just give the impression that "one rotten fish head has gone but another has come".

He added that appointing o­ng would not bode well for the party's image due to the allegations of triad infiltration.

The party veteran was referring to a poison-pen letter that was widely circulated recently claiming that o­ng was close to two triad leaders in Selangor and Penang.

Ong denied the accusation and had lodged a police report.

Third possibility

The party veteran also revealed a third possibility that may transpire at the central committee meeting, which he simply put as "Ling goes, Ah Lek stays".

"Because Ling must go soon, while Ah Lek who is not as controversial as Ling could stay to assume the presidency till the next general election," he said.

Ling has been accused of various wrongdoings ranging from corruption to abuse of power by a protege-turned-nemesis Soh Chee Wen. The latter has also lodged several reports and law suits against the president.

According to the party veteran, if the third possibility becomes a reality then Team A's Fong will be appointed as deputy president and the interim leadership will remain until the next general election.

Under the party constitution, if the president resigns, his deputy will assume the leadership till the next party annual general assembly while the central committee is empowered to choose any of its members as deputy president.

The veteran added that the main reason why Ling must leave is because Umno does not want the allegations against him to have a bearing o­n the upcoming general election.

No changes

However, other observers said the resolution o­n Ling's resignation will be rejected by the 40-member central committee since a overwhelming majority of them are aligned to the president.

Some have also dismissed the whole episode as a charade and are certain that nothing will change after Friday.

Party secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh called for the crucial meeting o­n Saturday - considered a very short notice. Under the party constitution, the central committee meeting should be called at least seven days before the meeting unless there is reason of urgency.

The sudden notice has intensified the widely-circulated speculations that there would be an "important announcement" that the top two feuding leaders, Ling and Lim will step down from their party post during the meeting.

Yesterday, malaysiakini reported that both Ling and Lim have submitted their resignation letter to Ting.