The question surrounding MCA president Ong Ka Ting’s resignation did not even arise in the party’s central committee meeting today.

At a press conference at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur later, Ong said the central committee unanimously decided that his resignation should not be discussed.

mca bring forward party polls 150308 ong ka ting"Before I could even raise matter in the meeting, the central committee members unanimously said that this issue (resignation) does not arise at all and it should not be discussed.

"The committee has decided that the issue concerning my resignation is unsuitable for discussion and it does not bring any benefit," he said.

Calls for the housing and local government minister to resign after the party’s dismal performance in the 12th general elections have been raised by other MCA members.

Among those that were most vocal was former MCA vice-president Chua Jui Meng who made a plea to Ong to "do the right thing and step down".

"For the sake of MCA, please reconsider your decision not to step down. You must do the honourable thing. It is only politically ethical to take responsibility," Chua said.

Ong stressed that any view expressed by individuals will be noted but the party will carry on with their struggle.

"As far as I am concerned, I am very open-minded about it. The party is now facing a very difficult time.

"I think for anybody to voice out their opinion whether positive or negative, I am not suggesting that any action should be taken against them.

"We didn’t have to reply to every accusation out there. If we have to answer them, it would never end," he said.

Party polls next month

Ong also said the committee has decided to push the party elections forward to next month during the five-hour meeting.

"We will begin the party election process next month. Hopefully, the central committee elections will be as soon as possible in October.

"This has been agreed to by all central committee members," said Ong who was flanked by party deputy president Chang Kong Choy and vice-president Donald Lim.

He noted that the party elections will be held from branch, division, state and central levels and will be subjected to a date given by the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in officiating the annual general meeting (AGM).

Ong, who is also Kulai MP, announced that MCA will also set up an independent panel to conduct a post-mortem on its dismal performance in the general election.

"We want to get to the bottom on all the factors and we want to formulate our future action plan," he said.

Quizzed whether the party’s nine-point plan will be scrapped in light of MCA’s election defeat, Ong said the central committee has unanimously agreed to retain it.

"The committee had agreed to continue with this plan as there is no reason why it should be delayed.

"The plan was drafted and approved by the committee and not just me alone as president," he said.

In the recent elections, MCA won only 15 of the 40 parliamentary seats and 31 of the 90 state seats contested this year.

In the 2004 election, MCA won 31 of the 40 parliamentary and 70 of the 90 state seats.