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KUALA LUMPUR - Top figures in Malaysia's main Chinese political party said Thursday they have resolved a leadership crisis that had threatened to undermine the ruling coalition.
The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the second-largest party in the Barisan Nasional coalition, has been embroiled in a power struggle between its president Ong Tee Keat and a rival who was suspended over a sex tape scandal.
MCA members issued a vote of no confidence against Ong earlier this month, and overturned the suspension of former health minister Chua Soi Lek who was forced to leave the cabinet last year over the sex tape affair.
Ong and Chua told a press conference Thursday that they have agreed to set aside their differences and work together under an "unity plan" which was endorsed by Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Najib had pressed the party to resolve the crisis, which was hampering the coalition's efforts to claw back support from minorities, who swung to the opposition in landmark elections a year ago.
"This is the time to forgive and forget and look at the bigger picture of what was good, not for individuals, but for the party," Ong said in a statement.
"With a unified MCA, the leaders can now re-focus their attention on strengthening the party to regain the confidence and trust of the Chinese community and Malaysians in general," he added.
Political analysts however were sceptical about the peace deal, saying Ong has not specified whether he will step down and what role Chua -- who was formerly deputy president -- will have in the party.
"The power struggle will turn from open conflicts to undercurrents... and probably will erupt again before the next party elections (in 2011)," analyst Wong Chin Huat from the Monash University campus in Kuala Lumpur told AFP.
"They said they will put everything aside but there is no mutual trust among them and their reasons for fighting have not been resolved," he added.
The leading Indian party in the coalition, the Malaysian Indian Congress, has also defied calls for a new leadership to lure back minority voters in the multicultural country, where the population is dominated by Muslim Malays. - AFP/vm
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