KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek today offered to quit his post on the condition his deputy, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, followed suit.

Dr Chua also revealed that a motion to censure Liow for his alleged failure to perform as the party’s election chief in the May 5 general election will be proposed when MCA convenes in an extraordinary general meeting on October 20.

The MCA president claimed the motion to censure his deputy, whom he described as “indecisive” and weak, was “not personal” nor was it a move to ensure he stays on as president, but was part of MCA’s rejuvenation process as it prepares to win young hearts in the upcoming national polls.

“If the resolution is passed, it is not for Soi Lek to remain as president. I am willing to go off, but Liow must go with me,” he told a long press conference at the party’s headquarters here.

“In the four years I have worked with him, I’ve found him to be indecisive. To put it simply, he is not a fighter. He goes around saying I’m trying to bully him. How can I bully him? He’s a YB (Yang Berhormat). If he can’t handle Chua Soi Lek, how is supposed to handle, say, a much aggressive DAP?” said the MCA president, referring to the party’s arch-rival in the opposition pact.

The motion is one of the four points proposed for the October 20 EGM that was originally intended to revoke a resolution passed in the last congress: That MCA leaders refuse any government or official posts if the party performed worse than Election 2008.

In the May 5 general, the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) second-biggest component party won only seven out of the 37 federal seats it contested, down from the 15 seats it secured in 2008.

While initially keeping to the pledge, Dr Chua later moved to convene the EGM to revoke the self-imposed ban on government posts, a move Liow had criticised. This triggered a war of words between the two camps, a clash Dr Chua blamed on his deputy and listed as a cause for the censure motion.

Despite the bitterness, Dr Chua today maintained that the move to reprimand Liow was solely based on his performance as the party’s election director.

“He was supposed to cover all 37 constituencies that MCA contested. But if you ask around he only covered 10. So passing this resolution is not personal. If you are appointed to a senior position in MCA you have to perform,” he said.

Chua added that the resolution would also send a strong signal to all future leaders against “washing their dirty linen in public”, which he accused Liow’s camp of doing.

The MCA president himself has also faced calls to quit immediately following the party’s poorer electoral performance, but insisted he would only relinquish his post once the party finds a replacement in the upcoming congress.

Today, Dr Chua said he was not willing to leave the party in the hands of someone incapable and said most of the senior MCA leaders should pave way for new blood.

He asserted that if MCA were handed over to a leader like Liow, “it would become like another BN component party”, alluding to smaller members of the ruling coalition like Gerakan.

Dr Chua added that MCA has a new batch of young leaders capable of leading the party, naming a few including his son, Labis MP Datuk Chua Tee Yong.

“It’s about time we senior leaders in MCA meet and say we are ready to make way for these young leaders... I can do this because I love the party more than I love the presidency,” he said.