MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek remains coy about the minimum number of parliamentary seats the party should capture in order to stay in the government.

"We have a formula for that, we do not need to reveal it now," Chua told a press conference in Labis, Johor, this afternoon.

NONE Chua had previously said that MCA would not rejoin the government if it performed worse in Sunday's general election than it did in the 12th general election.

Even though MCA won 15 of the 31 parliamentary seats it contested in 2008, the 15 seats threshold for MCA to rejoin the government may not apply this time around because it is contesting fewer seats.

However, Chua said, the formula for the threshold this time around would only be revealed after the election.

"We will calculate the formula after the results are out," he said.

MCA surrendered three parliamentary seats to Umno in this general election - the Wangsa Maju, Kuantan and Gelang Patah seats.

On DAP's claim that MCA-owned The Star refused to accept advertisements from opposition parties, Chua said MCA does not micro-manage the English daily.

"All we are concerned about is that the paper is professionally managed and pays dividends," he said.