For the past few weeks MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek has been working behind the scenes with his estranged deputy Liow Tiong Lai to unite the party prior to the Dec 21 party election.

In revealing this, party insiders said that the plan would include Liow replacing Dr Chua who will not be defending the president’s post and Youth chief Wee Ka Siong taking over from Liow as the deputy president.

The plan includes both sides having two representatives each (2+2) for the four elected vice-presidents’ slot.

The plan also includes 13 representatives from Dr Chua’s side and 12 from Liow’s side (13+12) for the 25 elected slots for the party’s central committee positions.

“However, some of their supporters couldn’t agree on this. They believe should one group take the presidency, the other group should take the deputy presidency but both sides couldn’t come to any agreement,” former MCA vice-president Yap Pian Hon told Bernama.

He said this may explain the reason why Dr Chua announced on Wednesday the plan would only cover the election of central committees (CC) up to the vice-president, but not the party president and deputy president’s post.

The nominees on Dr Chua’s side for the two vice-president posts are two former deputy ministers, Chua Tee Yong and Kampar division chairperson Lee Chee Leong.

The same side’s 13 names for CC include Jason Teoh, Dr Lee Hong Tee, Tan Chin Meng, Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon, Ei Kim Hock, Wong Koon Mun, Koh Nai Kwong, Edward Khoo, Ooi Siew Kim, Chin Tung Leong, Dr Lim Chin Fui, Lua Choon Hann and Gan Tian Loo.

On Liow’s side, party insiders said under the peace plan the nominees for VP posts are Chew Mei Fun and Dr Hou Kok Chung.

Their 12 for the central committee line-up include incumbent central committee members Toh Chin Yaw, Ong Ka Chuan, Hoh Khai Mun, Tan Cheng Liang, Paul Kong Sing  Chu, Datuk Yoo Wei How, Alex Chuah Poh Khiang, Ti Lian Ker, Chai Kim Seng, Tan Shu Pei, Kuala Selangor division chairperson Tan Chong Seng and Teh Chai An.

While both Liow’s and Chua’s groups are supposed to nominate two people each to run for the MCA vice-presidencies under the ‘peace plan’, the question is can supporters of both factions accept it?

“Judging from the fact that both sides already have more than two people each running for the vice-presidency, such compromise seems to be difficult though it is not impossible,” added Yap.

Under the plan, the Chua group recommended Lee Chee Leong and Chua Tee Yong, but pro-Chua Kedah MCA chairperson Chong Itt Chew has also made public his intention to contest.

Similarly for Liow’s group that recommended former Wanita chairperson Chew Mei Fun and deputy secretary-general Dr Hou Kok Chung, pro-Liow members Wee Jeck Seng and Lee Wei Keat are also joining the fray despite efforts to persuade both of them to run only for the CC post.

Both groups putting up two groups of candidates?

This also indicates that Dr Chua and Liow could not stop any of the central delegates from contesting in the party elections that is likely to see more than two aspirants from each camp going for the vice-presidency.

The talk among the party inner circles is that both Dr Chua’s and Liow’s groups seem to be putting up two group of candidates to contest in this election, though both sides denied this.

The second group from Dr Chua’s side are VP aspirants Chong Itt Chew and either party secretary-general Kong Cho Ha or Johor state exco member Tee Siew Keong.

Similarly, Liow’s side was said to be putting up another front through Wee and Lee for the VP race in order to take a clean sweep on all four veep posts.

Both Dr Chua’s and Liow’s group seem to be focusing on VP and CC level, thus creating suspicion among their respective supporters that both sides were putting up two fronts for the battle.

“Most of them don’t trust each other. This may explain why the so called peace plan itself is not comprehensive enough,” said former Padang Besar division chairperson Loh Yoon Foo.

Therefore, it is interesting to see how the delegates will vote on Dec 21 election with many party members still unsure on how the so called ‘political brinkmanship’ is going to work.

- Bernama