MCA president Ong Ka Ting appealed to party leaders and members today not to listen to "rumours" about the extra number of seats the party will be given to contest in the coming general election.

He said the number of seats offered to the party has not been finalised by top leaders of the Barisan Nasional.

"If there are any (media) reports on who is getting this or that seat and who is not getting this or that, those are just rumours, don't believe a word about it," he told a press conference after chairing the MCA presidential council meeting at the party's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

He said the MCA has just submitted a list of new seats it is eyeing under the redelineation exercise to the BN "some time ago".

"But the names of candidates for the new seats were not submitted as the coalition has not finalised anything yet."

No names yet

However, he declined to reveal the number of new parliamentary and state seats the MCA has requested for. Under the redelineation exercise, there is an additional 25 parliamentary and 63 state seats.

In the last general election, MCA contested in 35 parliamentary and 77 state seats, winning 28 and 68 seats respectively.

Ong also said that the party will respect the wishes of party veterans like former president Dr Ling Liong Sik who had expressed their wish to step down.

On the controversial Bayan Lepas and Dato Keramat state seats in Penang, he said the party has yet to iron out the matter with Gerakan.

The state assembly representatives of the two seats, Lim Chien Aun and Lim Boo Chang, crossed over from Gerakan to MCA shortly after the 1999 general election.

Proposal on schools

Meanwhile, MCA secretary-general and education bureau chief Dr Ting Chew Peh said the MCA-Gerakan joint committee on education has agreed to present a proposal to the Education Ministry pertaining to the relocation of 15 under-enrolled Chinese primary schools.

The three-member committees from the two parties, respectively headed by Ting and Gerakan deputy president Kerk Choo Ting held their first meeting at the Education Ministry this morning.

He told malaysiakini when met later that out of the 15 schools, 13 agreed to be relocated while the board of governors for the remaining two - one in Fraser's Hill and another in Sibu - refused to budge.

Ting said the government could not force any school to relocate if they do not want to.

"For instance, we could not force the Chinese primary school in Fraser's Hill to move because it is the only Chinese school in the area. If the school is relocated, it means the community will not have the school anymore," Ting said.