Guan Eng dismisses notion DAP re-election a blessing for him
(FMT) – DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has rejected the view that the party’s leadership re-election is a blessing in disguise by enabling him to extend his tenure as secretary-general.
He reiterated that he was not happy with the Registrar of Society (RoS) insisting on the re-election for the central executive committee (CEC) whose present term would expire in March next year.
Lim was responding to a report in Malaysiakini which predicted that the re-election would enable him to extend his secretary-general’s term until 2020.
This was because the re-election would be based on the 2012 delegates list, thus voiding all the party elections held since that year.
Lim has held the secretary-general post since 2004, and was on his third and last term.
The party constitution allows an individual to hold the secretary-general post only for three terms, of three years each.
In a nutshell, Lim would become eligible to contest for secretary-general for his third term during the RoS mandated Nov 12 re-election.
“I would not say it is a silver lining…this election was arranged by RoS against our wishes. We oppose this.
“You are freezing the party’s future and bringing it to the past through the old delegates’ list from 2012.
“We were already supposed to have our regular elections in March 2018. We feel RoS’ decision was political,” Lim told a press conference in Komtar today.
Lim said RoS’ insistence on a re-election was “unnecessary and unprofessional”.
“We are not fearful of holding an election based on 2012 delegates’ list. If RoS feels no full turnout of delegates means the results are invalid, then what about the general election?
“In GEs, some people do not come out to vote. Does that mean the GE results were invalid, too?”
Issue began four years ago
The whole issue over DAP’s last party elections started more than four years ago, less than three weeks before the 13th general election (GE13), which was held on May 5, 2013.
On April 17, 2013, the RoS sent a letter to Lim stating that it did not recognise DAP’s CEC elected during the party elections the year before.
The then RoS director-general, Abdul Rahman Othman, said the non-recognition was due to a dispute surrounding the party polls, and warned the party faced the risk of being de-registered.
However, the RoS issued another letter on April 19 allowing DAP to use its rocket symbol in GE13.
A re-election of the CEC was eventually carried out by the DAP on Sept 29, 2013 but the results were also not recognised by the RoS.
Then, on Jan 22, 2014, Lim applied for a judicial review on behalf of the party, contending the RoS had no power under the Societies Act 1966 to refuse recognition for the CEC re-elected on Sept 29, 2013.
DAP decided to drop the application on Sept 23, 2014, following the RoS’ recognition of the re-elected CEC and its stand that statements on the matter were merely advice and not legally binding.
