As MCA's central committee members huddled in a meeting room to discuss their future, an unidentified individual was pacing the streets outside the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur distributing copies of a Chinese news article to passers-by.

The man, who claims not to be a MCA member, said he has been there since 10am with 10,000 copies of a Sin Chew Daily commentary critical of party president Ong Tee Keat.

Among others, the strongly-worded piece had denounced Ong - who took over the leadership reins last October - as the party's "worst ever president" to date.

The man, who wished to be named only as Hee, was seen distributing photocopies of the article to those driving into the MCA headquarters' parking lot as well as to pedestrians in the vicinity.

"I am not an MCA member," declared Hee when approached by Malaysiakini.

And when asked what was his motive in distributing the articles, Hee claimed that he wanted to expose the problem-plagued party.

"I am doing this to show the people, how shameful MCA is, tell the people about all the fights inside MCA," he said.

'The writer got it right'

According to Hee, the writer of the Sin Chew article hit the nail on the head with his analysis regarding the problems in MCA.

"The writer got it right. He is not pro-Ong, (Dr) Chua (Soi Lek) or Liow (Tiong Lai). He hit all three of them with his pen," he said.

The Sin Chew article, which appeared today just ahead of the crucial CC meeting, did not carry a byline of the writer. It was categorised as a 'special commentary' on the MCA crisis.

Sin Chew, which is owned by Sarawak timber tycoon Tiong Hiew King, is known not to be favourable of Ong due to his link with the MCA Team B forces in previous feuds, which opposed the party's takeover of two other Chinese dailies - Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press.

Later, Sin Chew bought a majority stake in the two newspapers from MCA's investment fund Huaren Holdings.

Some observers believed that MCA's controversial takeover of the two dailies was a ploy to help Sin Chew dominate the Chinese newspaper market.

Because of this, Sin Chew, which has the largest circulation among the Chinese dailies, has always been a traditional supporter of Team A.

Meanwhile, Hee also warned that the impasse in MCA would adversely affect the party's performance in the next general election."If MCA loses, then all six million Chinese would lose," he lamented.