Gerakan president Dr Koh Tsu Koon denies the Barisan Nasional supreme council meeting today had discussed the position of Penang BN chairperson.

Koh said the matter was not discussed at all.

“There was no discussion of the Penang BN chairpersonship or any other state BN leadership in this meeting today,” he said.

Koh, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, was met by reporters after BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak chaired the BN supreme council meeting.

Today it was reported that another Gerakan leader, Teng Chang Yeow, was prepared to lead Penang BN into the general election.

There are speculations that Koh may vacate his Penang chairperson in a bid to concentrate on federal posts.

Soi Lek clarifies MCA's position

On another matter, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek later clarified that the party was not opposed to Malaysian citizens overseas voting, but raised a logistical problem which has to be looked into.

Chua said imagine having the Malaysian High Commission to put up 800 poll boxes during election time.

“Imagine we have to have 800 ballot boxes in all the high commissions and embassies. For the whole world, you would have to prepare the ballot boxes.

“This can subject to problems including tampering. Also, ideally, there should be independent witnesses to monitor the voting,” he said.

Otherwise, Chua said, there would be a lot of accusations that the embassy officials could have voted for you, and secondly the validation of voting would also be suspect.

“That is why we do not favour it because of the logistics and the possibility of abuse.”

Chua said he does not agree with the views of some of the party members who had claimed before the parliamentary select committee that they oppose it because the overseas people may not know what is happening in the constituencies.

He said with the advent of the Internet, people can keep in touch with what is happening.

The MCA president hoped that this misunderstanding can be clarified further.

Chua also maintained that today was just an ordinary BN supreme council meeting, despite rumours that parliament could be dissolved today.

He said the general election is not suitable to be held in November and December due to the flood conditions, similar to what was happening in Thailand.