About half of the proposed resolutions received by the MCA secretariat for its Aug 4 annual general meeting (AGM) are on amendments to the party's constitution to limit the tenure of several key posts, including the president's.

MCA secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh said today that the party secretariat had received 624 resolutions from the central delegates and about 300 of them are related to limiting the terms of several high-ranking office bearers.

"These include the party president, national Youth chief and national Wanita chief," he told a press conference at the party's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The resolutions appeared to be targeted at Dr Ling Liong Sik, who has been the party's president for five terms since 1986. However, MCA Youth chief Ong Tee Keat and Wanita chief Ng Yen Yen, are in their first term of office.

Party elections are held every three years and the next one is due in August 2002.

Ting said given the overwhelming number of resolutions involving constitutional amendments, a general resolution will be drafted and put for discussion at the coming AGM, he said.

"This general resolution will call for the establishment of a special committee to review the party's constitution and make recommendations to the CC (central committee)," said Ting.

Ting, who is also the chairperson of the resolution committee which is in charge of compiling all the proposed resolutions, said the CC will then consider the recommendations and bring them to the party's AGM next year.

Maximum three terms

On Sunday, The Star reported that Pahang MCA convention delegates had passed a resolution calling to limit the party president's tenure to a maximum of three terms.

Today, the daily also quoted Ling as saying that all proposed resolutions will be considered. However, he said that many state divisions support him "to carry on for a long time more".

The current Article 21 in the party constitution states that the top posts ranging from president to 25 CC members must be elected by the general assembly comprising central delegates but did not specify the limit of their terms in office.

MCA is the largest Chinese party in Malaysia, claiming over 900,000 members. It currently has 10 representatives in the Cabinet, including four ministers and six deputy ministers.

In recent years, MCA has been divided into two camps - party chief Ling and his deputy, Lim Ah Lek.

It was widely believed that Lim had chosen to step down from his human resource minister post two years ago as part of a 'gentlemen's agreement' with Ling to give way to younger leaders.

Party feud

The party feud escalated following MCA's acquisition of Nanyang Press Holdings, publisher of Chinese dailies Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press, through its investment arm Huaren Holdings in late May.

The controversial RM230 million deal had resulted in both camps going on road-shows to garner support.

Ling, who advocated for the takeover, claimed that it was a "strategic political investment" but the opposing faction led by Lim, and joined by party vice-president Chua Jui Meng, alleged that the deal had infringed the party constitution.

A party's extraordinary general meeting on June 24 saw a slim majority of the delegates present voting for the deal. Many observers noted that the results were proof of the increasingly worsening party split, and that Chua had cast his eye on the party presidency next year.