Direct Elections Of MCA President, State Chairmen In 2 Years

PENANG: MCA will begin its slimming programme in March, and aims to have direction elections of president and state liaison committee chairmen two years later.
From the information available to Sin Chew Daily, MCA president Ong Tee Keat and party leadership will soon announce the party's slimming programme, requiring all MCA branches throughout the nation to re-register their members.
It has been known that the new party leadership will go ahead with the slimming cum purging exercise even if it means the party may have to lose more than half of its members as a consequence. The party says the re-registration of party members is the only way to resolve the issue of phantom party members, including those who have passed away or left the party.
Established 60 years ago, MCA once claimed that it had more than a million members. However, issues of phantom members and hibernation of organisation have plagued the party in the past.
If all members have to be re-registered, it is believed that the new membership might not exceed 500,000.
It has also been anticipated that under the re-registration programme, the number of branches may also be halved, while the number of central delegates in its more than 200 divisions nationwide may also be cut down by more than half.
It has been learned that MCA will also take disciplinary actions against recalcitrant party leaders, including termination of their memberships and freezing of their divisions or branches, as the party strives to purge itself and reinvent its political image.
If the purging process is completed within two years, MCA will hold direct elections of party president and state liaison committee chairmen. Under the new system, delegates from the various divisions and branches may be able to directly take part in the elections of party president and state chairmen.

tunku : not only mca should do the slimming programme but all the parties in bn should do it by now. for instance umno, which has close to 4 millions members.i don't think so that umno has that many now, if they do, umno won't have any problems in elections.many members have died or left the party.it is high time for bn to do re-registration of its members or every branch should collect and gather the informations and update of its members, whether they are still alive or still supporting the party.it's better quality than quantity.