MCA Youth central committee will meet this Saturday - after a lapse of five months - to clear the air over investigations on the youth wing's 38th annual general assembly fracas.

The emergency meeting will be held at MCA Serdang division office. Some 70 people, including 45 Youth CC members, are expected to turn up at the meeting, which last met on June 28.

The invitation list did not include Loh Seng Kok and Han Chin Peng who were expelled from the CC in late September after they were found having a hand in the fracas at the MCA Aug 3 AGM.

The unruly AGM was punctuated by a bomb hoax, fist-fights, chair-throwing and the sacking of two Youth leaders who were said to be loyalists to MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik.

The two sacked were Youth vice-chairperson Loh, who is also Ling's political secretary, and secretary-general Yeow Tiong Look.

Yeow, however, was invited to the meeting as he remains a CC member by virtue of his post as MCA Wilayah Persekutuan chief.

Party sources told malaysiakini that MCA Youth acting secretary-general Liow Tiong Lai will present a report on the fracas which was prepared by a five-member committee which he headed.

It is expected that another report will be presented by Yeow who was heading a separate inquiry committee to investigate the fracas.

Pressure from state chiefs

MCA Youth acting secretary-general Liow today denied that the decision to call for a meeting was made due to pressure from various party Youth state chiefs who had demanded for a meeting for months.

"There was a precedence that the parent body had not called for a CC meeting for eight months. There is nothing unusual about us having the meeting now," he told a special press conference held at the party headquarters today.

Last Thursday, 18 Youth CC members submitted a requisition to Youth chief Ong Tee Keat for a meeting to be convened.

Liow said the notice for the meeting was sent to the relevant parties yesterday evening.

When asked, he said there were contingency plans to cope with the situation should Loh and Han turn up at the meeting uninvited.

"Ong is confident that the meeting will run smoothly without any disruption," he said.

Divided party

Ong is one of the party leaders who has been at loggerheads with MCA chief Ling on many issues, most notably the party's takeover of two Chinese newspapers, Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press in May.

The RM230 million deal which was initiated by Ling had divided party members and leaders into two camps, now popularly referred to as 'Team A' which is in favour of the deal and 'Team B' which is against it.

Apart from Ong, other leaders in Team B are party deputy president Lim Ah Lek, vice-presidents Chua Jui Meng and Chan Kong Choy, Wanita deputy chief Dr Tan Yee Kew and several other party CC members.

The deal was endorsed by a wafer-thin majority at the party's extraordinary general meeting in June but had sparked off a volley of protest from the Chinese community who feared that the editorial independence of the two dailies could be compromised.

Ling had previously maintained that Loh and Yeow should remain in their Youth posts until an inquiry committee comprising veteran party members is done with the investigation on the MCA Youth fracas.

But Ong accused Ling of showing disrespect to Youth delegates who had voted for the sacking of Loh and Yeow.

Political observers noted that the ongoing bickering between Team A and Team B is a sign of a contest for power at the party's election scheduled for next June.

Chua is widely rumoured to have cast his eye on the party presidency, a post which Ling has said he would defend.