KUALA LUMPUR: In a move to shore up support and resolve the political imbroglio in MCA, embattled party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat will convene an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) next month.
The EGM will have one motion on its agenda -- to seek a vote of confidence in Ong and the party leadership.
Party sources said the decision was made late on Saturday night.
"Ong will call for an EGM in the next 30 days," said a source.
According to the party's constitution, an EGM can be called by the president or be requested in writing by one-third of the central committee or one-third of the general assembly.
Ong's EGM is likely to upset the plans of Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek's supporters, who are on a nationwide signature campaign for an EGM to have Dr Chua brought back into the MCA fold and reinstated as party deputy president, the position he was holding when he was expelled from the party last Wednesday.
The MCA presidential council had unanimously adopted its disciplinary panel's recommendation that Dr Chua be expelled for tarnishing the party's image through a sex scandal that erupted after a DVD surfaced of Dr Chua, a family man, having a tryst with a woman at a hotel in Johor in 2007.
Dr Chua was unaware that he was being videotaped. After his marital infidelity became public knowledge, he resigned from all government and party posts.
But he was elected MCA deputy president in the party elections last October.
A party source said the problems in the party had caused confusion among the rank and file.
"To resolve the problems once and for all, Ong has decided to let the central delegates decide whether they have confidence in the current leadership.
"It will allow Ong to seek a fresh mandate, and we are confident that we will get the support of the central delegates."
In George Town yesterday, Ong rubbished claims that he would step down as MCA president to pave the way for vice-president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai to take over.
"I am in no position to comment on these rumours," he said when pressed to confirm whether he or the party had such plans.
Ong, who is the Federal transport minister, was in town to meet with Chinese guilds and associations in Penang. He also attended a briefing by Penang MCA.
A news portal carried a report yesterday that Liow, who is the Penang MCA liaison chief, had been singled out as the man Ong's camp would nominate to fill the vacant post of deputy president.
The report speculated that Ong was prepared to resign as MCA president as he was under siege from both within his party and Barisan Nasional component parties, amid allegations of abuse of power and graft.
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