EGM results likely to spell Chua’s end

MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek is hard-pressed to keep his pledge and step down by yearend after the MCA extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Sunday rejected a motion engineered by his supporters to censure rival Liow Tiong Lai.

The first motion to censure the MCA deputy president for failing in his general election-related duties was thrown out with 1,190 delegates voting against and 965 for the motion. Of the 2,189 votes cast, 10 were spoilt votes.

Chua, despite owning a formidable power bloc comprising leaders from Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Johor who rallied behind him, had failed in his attempt.

This showed that although Chua’s faction made up of at least 40 percent of the party’s 2,385 delegates or 900-odd, there were about 30 percent of the independent delegates who opted to stay in the mid-path when caught in the crossfire between Chua and Liow.

The independent delegates, if joined forces with Liow’s faction that commanded another 30 percent of the delegates, would emerge the majority.

The independent delegates might not like Liow, but as Jempol division Chong Wan Yu pointed out, they were sober to regard the move to censure Liow as “nonsense.”

“If he says Liow should be held accountable for the poor election results, what about himself (Chua)? He is the party president. Shouldn’t he be censured as well?’ he told FMT.

Their non-tolerance towards “nonsense” underlined a big headache for Chua should he not keep his word and proceed to defend his president post.

The former health minister had declared his intention not to seek a re-election on May 6 to take responsibility for the party’s poor election results.

However, rumours were rife recently that he was considering otherwise so that he can block Liow from taking over the party since both were engaging in an open spat.

But with EGM results in mind, Chua knows that it would be hard to convince the delegates with the excuses or reasons to justify his stay at the party top leadership.

Even if he tries, the result would probably be the same as the first motion. This means that independent delegates might swing to Liow’s camp – provided it is a straight fight – just because they do not think it is right for Chua to backtrack on his promise.

Should that be the case, it is likely that Chua would step down graciously to pave way for another candidate from his camp, most probably vice-president Gan Ping Sieu, to take on Liow in the presidential fight.

“No” to ministerial posts

Meanwhile, the surprise outcome of the second, third and forth motions in relations to rejoining the government was believed to be caused by Chua’s manoeuvre and emotional votes.

It was initially believed that all three motion would be passed with great majority, because the MCA members from grassroots to central level were facing a collapse of their local administrative and service networks after they were barred from taking government posts.

MCA, after all, is a service-orientated party, especially in the rural areas.

However, the outcome was, MCA delegates voted with convincing majority the third and forth motions to allow members to assume senatorship, state and local posts. But they struck out the second motion to block central leadership from re-assuming ministerial posts, with 1,090 voted against and 1,080 voted for it.

Based on an observation at the EGM, the writer found that Chua’s supporters were asking members of Chua’s camp to vote for first, third and forth motions.

Sources say the objective to block the second motion was to ensure that even if Liow escapes being censured, the Bentong MP would not make his way back into the cabinet.

However, it is believed that some delegates had also voted “nay” to vent their frustrations at the ongoing spat between the party’s senior leaders.

By doing that, they are sending a strong message for the leadership to cease infighting and focus on revamping the party.

In conclusion, neither Chua nor Liow can claim victory at the EGM. Perhaps, the real winners were the delegates who can recapture local and state posts now while teaching the central leadership a lesson