Eileen Ng and Joseph Sipalan

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat: It was the end of the line for both Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek at today’s MCA extraordinary general meeting. (Updated: 4.30pm)

The former’s bid to oust the president by a vote of no-confidence succeeded, as did his wish for his suspension as an MCA member to be annulled.

But delegates threw a spanner in Dr Chua’s works when they rejected the third resolution that he be reinstated as deputy president.

This could mean new party elections are to be scheduled as Ong had previously stated that if he lost any of the resolutions, he would resign and the entire presidential council would go with him.

When EGM speaker Datuk Yip Phooi Hong announced the results at the end of tallying, the count was 1,155 delegates saying they had no confidence in Ong and 1,141 against the resolution. There were eight spoilt votes.

In fact, there had been a recount of the votes for the first resolution as the difference between the “ayes” and “nays” had been less than one per cent.

In the second resolution, 1,204 voted to annul the central committee decision to suspend Dr Chua from the party for four years, while 1,095 were against. In this case, there were five spoilt votes.

If Dr Chua’s supporters thought they had victory in hand at this juncture, they were to be unpleasantly surprised as the delegates turned the tables on the former health minister.

A tally of 1,184 votes against the resolution to reinstate him as deputy president, as opposed to 1,110 for and 10 spoilt votes, meant Dr Chua did not have the all-out victory he had hoped for.

Counting of ballots for the three resolutions in the EGM began more than an hour after voting ended at noon as the ballot papers had to be sorted out before tallying could begin.

MCA delegates voted on the three resolutions after Yip had gotten their consent to drop two other resolutions, which he said had been overtaken by events and had no bearing on the meeting.

The two resolutions dropped were:

* any appointment made by the central committee after Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek's removal from office be made null and void; and

* no disciplinary action be taken against any member who participated in the EGM.

The three resolutions which the delegates cast their vote for were:

* a vote of no confidence in president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s leadership;

* that the presidential council’s decision on Aug 26 in accepting the recommendation of the disciplinary board to sack Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and the subsequent decision of the central committee to suspend him be annulled; and

* that Dr Chua be restored as deputy president.

Earlier, Yip also told the central delegates that they would have to present both their MyKad and membership card when collecting ballot papers, in the interest of transparency.

Yip declared voting open at 10.30am. It ended at noon, with MCA secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng and Yip being the last to cast their ballots. Ong cast his just prior to that, at 11.55am.

Delegates began arriving for the meeting as early as 8am, with Dr Chua among those at the MCA headquarters in Jalan Ampang.

Nearly all MCA central delegates have turned up for the extraordinary general meeting (EGM), with a turn out of 2,307 or 96.93 percent out of 2,380 total delegates.

The delegates present include 41 central committee members, five members of parliament, 24 state assemblymen and four senators.

Among them are vice-presidents Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha.

Ong arrived at 9.15am, to the cheers and words of encouragement of his supporters.

By OM on 10/10/2009. Filed under Aktiviti . Follow any responses to the RSS 2.0. Leave a response