Kuala Lumpur, Oct 20 — MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (pic) survived a move to censure him at the party’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today, by a slim majority of 225 votes or 54.4 per cent of the total votes received.
Of the 2,189 delegates who cast the votes, 1,190 voted against the motion to censure Liow while 965 voted for it. There were 34 spoilt votes.
The motion was to censure Liow over his alleged refusal to accept collective party decisions and failure as chairman of the party’s general elections preparation committee, thereby failing in his duty.
The result was greeted with thumping cheers by Liow’s supporters in and outside the Dewan San Choon, Wisma MCA here as soon as Speaker Datuk Yip Phooi Hong made the announcement about 3pm.
The delegates who attended the EGM this morning also rejected a motion to rescind the party’s resolution in the 2011 and 2012 annual general assemblies to not accept any federal government posts after it performed badly in the 13th General Election.
This resolution received 1,090 nays as compared to 1,080 ayes.
Nevertheless, the delegates voted in favour of two other motions, namely to accept appointments as senators or any other positions in government, and accept appointments at state-level.
These two resolutions received 1,666 and 1,709 votes, respectively. A total of 2,189 of the 2,199 national delegates cast their votes at the EGM.
While Liow and his supporters soaked in the euphoria following the announcement, party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was not present.
A news conference scheduled earlier was cancelled and in a brief statement issued immediately after the EGM, Dr Chua called on all party leaders to close ranks after the episode.
He hoped there would be no more mudslinging against one another after this.
“I would like to thank the delegates for making their choice and I hope we respect their decision. I hope party leaders will stop using the media as platform to attack one another and end up damaging the party’s image,” said Dr Chua.
-Bernama
