BUTTERWORTH: The Rocket took off without any problems as DAP candidates nationwide registered under the party symbol after getting the go-ahead from the Registrar of Societies (ROS).
Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the ROS handed a letter to the party at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur at about 10pm on Friday informing that DAP candidates could use the symbol.
He said he was relieved with the decision.
“We are happy that the symbol lives again,” he told reporters at the Bukit Bendera nomination centre yesterday.
Lim had earlier handed over his nomination papers for the Bagan parliamentary seat.
It was earlier reported that the ROS had informed the DAP on Wednesday that it was de-recognising the party’s central executive committee (CEC) elected last December due to protests by members questioning the legality of the elections.
The DAP then said its candidates nationwide would carry two sets of authorisation letters one from the DAP and another signed either by PAS or the PKR.
Lim had said that if the DAP was not allowed to contest, its candidates would use the PAS symbol in the peninsula and PKR’s in Sabah and Sarawak.
Penang Barisan Nasional welcomed the ROS announcement.
Its chairman Teng Chang Yeow, however, questioned why the ROS decided not to recognise the CEC at the eleventh hour.
“How could they have made such a drastic decision at the very last moment?” he said after filing his nomination papers at SM Vokasional Seberang Prai in Bukit Minyak to contest the Bukit Tengah state seat.
In Kuala Lumpur, former Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M. Manoharan called on Lim to “take a break” from his post as secretary-general.
“Lim Guan Eng should take a short break from his post until the party complies with the requirements set by ROS.
“Other people can take over his responsibility,” he told a press conference yesterday, naming Selangor state assembly speaker Datuk Teng Chang Khim and Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham as possible replacements.
Manoharan, who was dropped as a candidate and replaced by Selangor DAP committee member V. Ganabatirau, said he accepted the decision.
“My wife had earlier announced that she wanted to contest as an Independent but I stopped her,” he said.
