In a surprise move last night, Penang MCA Youth chief Eng Hiap Boon resigned from all his party posts, citing disappointment with the MCA leadership.
Eng (right) said 439 members have also resigned together with him, resulting in two MCA branches in the state being shut down.
"My comrades and I are very disappointed with the party's leaders, who are currently facing immoral and unethical issues in their leadership," Eng told a press conference in George Town last night.
Infighting within the party, he added, continued to grow and the leaders have refused to engage with the grassroots or serve the people genuinely.
Eng is known to be a "hardcore supporter" of former MCA president Ong Tee Keat, but he said his departure from the party was his own decision.
He also said that he understood some 500 party members from Johor may also have resigned from the MCA about the same time (last night), causing the dissolution of five branches in the process.
"I don't know when this tide will stop, but the MCA leadership should really conduct a self-examination," Eng said.
A member of the leading Chinese Malaysian party for 18 years, Eng criticised the MCA leadership for being "disloyal, lacking in integrity, being immoral and having no righteousness".
‘Those who work are run down'
He added: "The leadership is facing some moral issues and appears ignorant about the problems faced by the Chinese community.
"The worse thing is when members committed to serving the people and initiate welfare work, but their ‘reward' is a cut on their faces."
Eng was referring to incidents where certain members have had their banners promoting their party work torn down by certain quarters, but he would not reveal those behind the vandalism.
He has held seven positions in the party, including as Berapit state constituency coordinator.
He said among the 439 members who joined him in quitting the party were five branch Youth chiefs, seven elected state Youth executive committee members and 12 Youth divisional council members.
"We are still collecting more signatures and member cards from those who have decided to quit," Eng said.
He also claimed that after the March 2008 general election, Penang MCA hired "gunners or cybertroopers" to take charge of the party's statements, but none of them were paid a single sen for their worjk.
"MCA leaders only know how to cheat and do not keep their pledges.
"The party members are ageing and incapable of fighting with the new government after the 2008 loss, especially in the area of publicity," he complained.
"Hence, they hire people to write for them. These are who we call ‘gunners', but they are not paid at all," he added.
Chua accused of vote buying
Eng also accused party president Dr Chua Soi Lek of vote buying before the last MCA election by handing out money to all veteran members, instead of spending the funds to help the public.
Although MCA is the second largest Chinese-based political party in the world, Eng said, he felt ashamed to be seen as a party member as "this is a rotten party, led by a dirty president".
He denied being disloyal to the party, explaining that he could not accept what has been done to it by the leadership.
"For many years, I can still remember all the infighting within the party. Although it is easy to avoid an open attack, it is difficult to prevent the dirty tactics.
"Sometimes, my supporters were threatened by gangsters and have been targets of malicious allegations. I experienced these as well. Is this MCA's culture?" he asked.
"It is better to leave now and explore new platforms to do some welfare activities," Eng said, adding that he was currently committed to NGO work and would not join any other political party.
On a related matter, Eng criticised Penang state MCA chairperson Dr Ng Yen Yen for her "incompetence" in not calling for a state party meeting in the last three to four months.
He said such incompetent leaders would make it difficult for the MCA to regain Penang in the coming general election, which could even be called in the first quarter of next year.
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