AUG 3- The DAP saga continues and looks set to drag on indefinitely. Although the Registrar of Societies (ROS) has instructed DAP to hold its central executive committee (CEC) polls again, the party has does not see the need to do so.
Besides the above issue, ROS director-general Abdul Rahman Othman has made a misrepresentation on DAP when he said that DAP members hoped to form a new party.
He had also told DAP members that any hope of ROS approving the registration of the new party is virtually nil as ROS did not even entertain 29 applications to set up new parties submitted over the last five years.
This was reported in an English daily dated July 26, 2013 under the title: ‘Don’t harbour false hopes’.
It is clear that Abdul Rahman is very antagonistic towards DAP and his antagonism shows through in the false accusation that DAP members want to form a new party.
DAP is now mulling over taking legal action against the ROS director-general pertaining to this statement.
This columnist wishes to inform all readers that no one in DAP wants to set up a new party.
It is beyond any logic why Abdul Rahman wants to make such a baseless accusation. Is there any malicious intent behind the accusation?
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had a meeting with Abdul Rahman before the 13th general election and the ROS director-general had never mentioned anything about the need to hold the CEC polls again.
Instead he had given the assurance that he would not be making any decision on the matter until investigations are completed.
Has Abdul Rahman shown himself up as being insincere in the handling of this whole issue?
Political tool
Commenting on this matter, the Shah Alam MP from PAS, Khalid Samad remarked that “instead of focusing so much attention on DAP, ROS should instead focus on registering Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as a political coalition because this matter has been long pending.”
At the end of the day, ROS seems to be a political tool of the BN federal government as it is evident by its reluctance to register Pakatan despite requesting the opposition coalition to submit its application time and again and then rejecting the application due to technical error.
Going by this premise, DAP must be prepared to face de-registration very soon. It could even happen as early as Friday, Aug 16when no word is forthcoming from DAP on when it will hold its CEC polls again.
DAP leaders should take heed of this date and mark it out on their diary.
PAS’ Siti Mariah Mahmud, the Kota Raja MP, commented sarcastically that “if DAP is de-registered, they can always re-register under the name of “New DAP” and this should be easily approved by ROS as it is not a new party despite the word ‘new’ but merely the same old party under a “new” name.”
It must be said that only during the era of the Najib administration has this sort of trouble affected the DAP.
Is this a part of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s national reconciliation plan? Is the motive to get rid of DAP just because MCA is weak and is in dire need of Chinese support?
Do the BN strategists think that if DAP ceases to exist, the Chinese will go back to supporting MCA?
If that is what they think then they are plain stupid as they have again failed to read the thinking of the majority of the Chinese voters.
This columnist dares to say that even if DAP is wiped out, the Chinese support for Pakatan will be much stronger because the Chinese can still vote for PKR or PAS.
The majority of the Chinese voters will stand firm against BN’s bullying tactics. The more the Chinese voters are thrown a disadvantage, the more they will strive to overcome the challenge thrown at them and this issue will only strengthen the resolve of Chinese parents to send their children overseas for further studies and better opportunities.
These children will then work abroad when they get good job offers after completing their studies.
This will cause the nation to suffer in terms of brain-drain and capital flight as there will be fewer people paying income tax.
Yes, this will happen if the Chinese perceive DAP as being bullied and they perceive that the situation is a disadvantage to them after the 13th general election.
Therefore the bullying of DAP will cause the nation to lose out in terms of human capital and competitiveness on the world’s stage.
