MCA which has always been noted for its professional and courteous meetings witnessed a dramatic twist today when Youth delegates attending the wing's annual general meeting (AGM) started throwing punches, chairs and stink bombs.

The first sign of trouble surfaced when delegates who were busy feasting on refreshments outside the conference hall at the Flamingo Hotel in Kuala Lumpur began hearing rumours about a bomb in the venue.

Within minutes, a bomb squad arrived to comb the premises while delegates who were visibly calm about the whole thing, strolled nonchalantly to safety.

About an hour later, police declared the area to be safe and the delegates returned to the conference hall to resume the meeting.

Shouting match

However, peace was short-lived and things became heated between supporters of Youth chief Ong Tee Keat and secretary-general Yew Teong Look.

It began when a group of Yew's supporters stood up to oppose the speaker Lim Hong San's presence, who they claimed was bias.

However, Lim was defended by Ong's supporters and this resulted in a shouting match between the two groups. Following this, a delegate tried to seize the microphone from the speaker but the latter's bodyguards shoved him aside.

What ensued was a free-for-all which left one person injured. Chairs and punches were thrown in all directions, mineral water bottles were sent flying towards the stage where the central committee (CC) leaders were seated.

One CC member then decided to add some stench to the foray when he threw a few capsules on the floor and stepped on them, unleashing a foul smell. However, this failed to stop the delegates from doing battle.

Some 15 minutes later, police moved in to restore order. Youth chief Ong took to the microphone and requested the police to escort the "troublemakers" out of the room.

He was then booed by some delegates. But a calm Ong replied, "All your booing and whistling only sounded like some unimportant background music to me. We will not tolerate these black sheep."

Eventually, some 300 delegates left the hall as a show of protest, followed by Youth secretary-general Yew and 25 other delegates.

Following an emergency resolution later, Yew and deputy Youth chief Loh Seng Kok were sacked.

"It was embarrassing. This (scuffle) was never part of our (MCA's) culture," said one delegate.

Unpleasant surprises

Meanwhile, Ong told a press conference later that he did not rule out the possibility that the bomb scare and the scuffle were due to a sabotage. He said he had received crank calls warning him about "unpleasant surprises".

"They do not reflect the true picture of MCA members. That is why when this group left, the AGM resumed," he added.

Ong said the chaos could have been planned to avert the possibility of passing resolutions that would affect the party leadership.

He said the repeated effort by certain quarters to frustrate the AGM was "deplorable".

Umno Youth chief Hishamuddin Hussein Onn together with several other MCA leaders such as deputy president Lim Ah Lek, vice-presidents Chua Jui Meng and Chan Kong Choy were also present at the meeting.

However, all of them missed the commotion since they left the meeting early.