by Rita Jong
The Malaysian Insider
AUGUST 22, 2013

The DAP National Special Congress for the re-election of the central executive committee (CEC) will be held on Sept 29 in the Klang Valley at a venue to be confirmed later.

The party’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng announced the date during a press conference after a two-hour closed door meeting with CEC members today.

“The candidates for the re-election shall be that of the same list as that used in the 2012 National Congress in December 2012, of course less those candidates who have withdrawn voluntarily from the contest,” said Guan Eng.

“This is because there is no controversy over the list of nominated candidates and the RoS (Registrar of Societies) had instructed only the re-election of the CEC.”

He said the party would also be using the same list of qualified delegates who took part in the party polls last December to re-elect the CEC.

“As we know, after eight months, there were some delegates who have been expelled.

“In the meeting today, it was decided these delegates who were expelled from the party would be allowed to take part, should they choose to,” he said.

As a result of the re-election, Guan Eng said, the party’s parliamentary liaison committee AGM and of the state ordinary conventions which were supposed to be held between August and December this year will be postponed to a date to be fixed by the new CEC elected next month.

He said Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming will be the returning officer while Anthony Loke Siew Fook (Seremban MP) will be Special Congress Steering Committee chairman.

And for the first time, DAP will be appointing an international accounting firm to monitor the counting process.

“This will be first time done by any political party in Malaysian history,” he said.

“This is to prevent RoS from sabotaging us again.”

Guan Eng also reiterated that DAP was conducting the re-election under protest to avoid the party from being de-registered.

“RoS is operating as a tool of Umno. They don’t even want to meet us. They haven’t even given us any reasons why we should hold the re-elections,” he said, adding that this was an abuse of power.

Last week, DAP decided to hold a re-election of its CEC following a directive by the RoS on July 30.

The complaint to the RoS came after several disgruntled members claimed the election in December last year was not properly conducted after the party announced that a glitch in the tabulation had resulted in the wrong candidate being elected to the CEC.

These disgruntled members also claimed they were not informed of the party polls.

On Monday, Loke, the party’s national organising secretary, rebutted the allegations that it did not inform its 753 delegates of its party polls and produced evidence of members’ attendance record, signatures and postal receipts which showed notices were sent out.

Loke also argued that the RoS did not even interview the members who claimed they were not informed of the polls.

A booklet called “The Equity Report (CEC Election Fraud)” on the alleged irregularities and internal politics in the DAP polls, written by a Father Augustus Chen, was also widely distributed in Penang.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang had claimed that “Father Augustus Chen” was a fictitious character conjured by Umno to discredit the opposition party and asked that “Father Augustus Chen” come forward to prove otherwise.

He also claimed this dubious character was used by leaders from Umno and the RoS to invalidate the party’s CEC elections last year.

In the booklet, the writer accused Lim and his son, Guan Eng, of having manipulated the vote tabulation during the election.

Yesterday, DAP national legal bureau chairman Gobind Singh Deo gave Umno-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia 48 hours to respond to a letter of demand over two defamatory articles – one quoting The Equity Report and the other accusing Lim of manipulating the party polls last December.

He also wanted Utusan to reveal who was the real author of the booklet and demanded for the apology within the stipulated time. – August 22, 2013.