Soi Lek’s camp claims backing from 1,200 delegates

(The Malaysian Insider) KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 – Supporters of Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek are claiming to have collected more than 1,200 signatures from party delegates to call for an EGM to remove MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

And in an effort to stave off the possible embarrassment of being toppled as president after just under a year in office, Ong’s campaign is using Umno as a bogeyman.

Citing sources, the mass-selling Chinese language daily Nanyang Siangpau reported on its online edition yesterday evening that the pro-Dr Chua camp was still targeting more signatures.

Under the MCA constitution, a requisition from more than 800 party delegates would be enough to call for an EGM. But Dr Chua’s supporters are now targeting to get the backing of two-thirds of all delegates. MCA has 2,402 elected national delegates.

While it cannot be verified how many signatures Dr Chua’s supporters have actually collected, the claim will be put more pressure on the beleaguered Ong. The MCA president appears to be fighting for his political life and has been on a whistle-stop tour round the country to campaign for support.

He had triggered the current crisis by sacking Dr Chua as deputy president two weeks ago in what appeared then to have been a pre-emptive strike designed to knock out his chief rival. But his action appears to have galvanized disparate factions within MCA to stand behind Dr Chua.

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