Tunku Aziz asks ROS to suspend DAP over party polls
(The Star) – Former DAP vice-chairman Tunku Aziz Tunku Ibrahim has urged the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to suspend DAP pending its investigations into the party’s central executive committee elections in December.
“The ROS has a duty to protect the interests of the membership as a whole and can direct DAP to hold fresh elections so that a legal committee can be constituted,” he said yesterday.
Tunku Aziz, who quit following “irreconcilable differences” with the party leadership last May, said the alleged irregularities were of public interest.
He also claimed that investigation by ROS was being hampered by the reluctance of party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to cooperate in the matter.
“His cavalier approach towards his duty and his feet-dragging have given rise to imputations of motives, which affects the standing and reputation of the party,” he alleged.
Tunku Aziz was commenting on several complaints lodged by DAP members to the ROS since January, urging for action against the party over the CEC election debacle.
On Jan 14, two DAP life members submitted a similar request to the ROS, followed by former Taman Megah branch chairman Lee Chee Cheng, who lodged a police report on Jan 24 and subsequently to the ROS on Feb 8, claiming that the election results were invalid.
In January, the party had admitted to a tabulation error in the results, which saw Zairil Khir Johari move up from the 39th to 20th position, giving him the last spot in the CEC. He is the sole Malay candidate in the CEC.
Lim, said Tungku Aziz, could no longer come out with glib answers for the unsuspecting public to explain the conduct of the CEC election.
“If Lim cannot take the heat (of the complaints), he must get out of the kitchen,” he said.
Tunku Aziz said although there were 2,576 delegates who were eligible to attend the convention to elect the 20 CEC members, only 1,823 were given the opportunity to vote.
“We want the party to ensure that the remaining 753 delegates would also be given the right to take part in the voting process again,” he said.