The 45-member board of governors of Malaysia's oldest Chinese independent school has called off their controversial emergency meeting today in the bid to defuse the crisis between the board and the school's staff.

Over the past few months, the Confucian Private Independant School's (Zunkong) principal and teachers have been at loggerheads with the school's board of governors over allegations of interference in its administration.

The issue exploded into a crisis on July 19 when teachers and members of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) walked out from a meeting after representatives of the school's board were said to have insulted them.

A week later, the outraged PTA passed a resolution at their annual meeting calling on the governors to apologise for hurting the pride of the teachers.

While the full board's meeting was cancelled, its 14-member executive committee nevertheless met last night to discuss the issue.

According to a source, the meeting saw heated debate over the proposed sacking of the school's principal, Goh Kean Seng.

"However, due to the presence of the parents at the meeting, the governors were quite restraint in expressing their views openly on sacking Goh," said the source.

Mounting tension

Amid the mounting tension between the staff and the governors, various Chinese organisation leaders and vice-chairperson of Zunkong Chow Siew Hon have offered to step in as mediators.

But Chow decided to quit yesterday because the squabble, according to him, had gone beyond his control and had deteriorated to an "uncontrollable stage."

Chow accused Zunkong's board chairperson Lee Yam Hooi of breaking an agreement which he brokered last month between the two parties.

According to Chow, the board's chairperson went back on his words not to discuss the issue until a meeting to be held next month. Early this month, Lee had issued a notice for an emergency board meeting, which was supposed to take place this evening.

However, in a sudden twist of events, Lee gave a four-point statement to the press late last night that the proposed emergency meeting had been called off until next month.

"Lee said it was agreed by all the concerned parties that from now till the middle of next month, no party shall speak to the press on the matter," said the source.

The source added that before the meeting, Lee would obtain reports from the Committee to Protect Teachers' Rights - which represents the school's staff - and the board of governors on their disagreements.