GEORGE TOWN, AUG 13- The DAP will not hold a re-election of its central executive committee (CEC) unless and until the Registrar of Societies (ROS) clears the air over two pressing questions.
The party’s central working committee (CWC) which held an emergency meeting last night had unanimously decided not to bow to ROS but would instead make a final bid to meet and get an explanation from ROS director-general Abdul Rahman Othman.
DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guang Eng said it was vital that ROS explained to the party why and under what powers of the Societies Act 1966 did they direct the DAP to hold fresh party polls.
Lim said that directing party re-election based solely on ROS “dissatisfaction”, would be unlawful because it violated the basic principle of “reasonableness in the exercise of powers, natural justice and due legal process”.
“The two explanations of the reasons why and under what powers of the law in the Societies Act, are necessary in the interests of accountability and transparency.
“The DAP is willing to hold party re-elections provided these explanations are given in a manner that is reasonable, lawful and with factual basis,” Lim said in a statement here today.
He said thus far the ROS had neither responded to the party’s request for the two explanations nor to his request for a meeting.
He disclosed that the DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke had been assigned to make arrangements for the ROS appointment.
Lim’s position as party secretary-general is hanging on a thread since the ROS issued a directive on July 30 to the DAP to reconvene its internal election for CEC.
The ROS issued the directive after it found that the party CEC polls held in Penang on Dec 15, 2012 were tainted with irregularities as alleged by many DAP members.
Computer glitch
Lim claimed that without ROS’ explanations, the DAP leadership would be helpless to answer queries by DAP delegates at the party congress.
He said the party would have to explain why it succumbed and surrendered meekly to such arbitrary and high-handed abuse of power by the government agency in directing re-elections.
ROS is the authority that governs all registered organisations in the country in accordance with the Societies Act.
Lim said that the CWC reaffirmed the party stand that last year’s CEC election was properly and cleanly conducted.
“When a computer glitch caused the wrong announcement of the successful candidates, DAP immediately rectified it and even got an accounting firm to verify the corrected results.
“There was no mistake either in vote counting or tabulation but only in posting the results, leading to one candidate Vincent Wu wrongly announced as a successful candidate when it should be Zairil Khir Johari.
“This mistake had been duly rectified by reinstating Zairil Khir Johari as the winning candidate.
“DAP had fully explained this honest mistake to ROS officials by furnishing all relevant materials,” said Lim who is Bagan MP.
He also claimed that the DAP admitted the mistake voluntarily without being exposed by ROS or Barisan Nasional (BN) to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability.
He claimed that DAP was now being punished for being honest and truthful.
Why slow action against SUPP?
He said if the DAP accepted the ROS rationale that no explanation needed to be given, then what is there to stop the ROS from directing that fresh elections be called again and again merely because the ROS was not satisfied.
“Contrast the quick action taken against the DAP on complaints filed this year with the non-action by ROS on complaints filed on the SUPP 2011 party elections two years ago,” said Lim.
He said the CWC was unhappy that the ROS had repeatedly behaved unprofessionally, unethically and even unlawfully by making media announcements that had no factual or legal basis.
He said if the ROS believed that it had been defamed by the DAP, the agency can always sue the party for defamation.
He reiterated his allegations that the ROS appeared to believe the unsubstantiated lies of Utusan Malaysia (UM) and New Straits Times (NST) that 753 delegates were denied their rights to attend the DAP Congress in Penang and that there were 547 phantom delegates attending the Congress, not the facts provided by the DAP which were verified by an accounting firm.
Take ROS to court
In another development, the Penang Malay Congress (PMC) today dared Lim and his father Kit Siang to sue the ROS to prove their innocence from any wrongdoings during the party polls last year.
PMC president Rahmad Isahak suggested that a court action was also the best avenue for the party to nullify the “fresh polls” directive issued by ROS.
Or else, he said DAP should just abide to ROS directive to hold fresh internal polls.
Rahmad also claimed the party’s constant rants challenging ROS’ authority were merely to shape up public opinion in favour of the party.
“Truth is it’s the DAP who is bullying ROS. A legal action will once and for all end the debate on whether ROS was right to call for a fresh election,” Rahmad said in a press statement here today.
The PMC president also expressed shock on the party senior parliamentarian Karpal Singh’s deafening silence over the issue.
Being a senior lawyer, he said, Karpal should initiate pro-active steps to save the party from deregistration, which seemed to be a reality by each day.
