For Selangor DAP, the fight is also within
The poor turnout at the Selangor DAP convention last weekend was a missed opportunity to rally the troops to defend the premier state against a hungry opposition.
The fact that Teng himself did not bother to attend and the flimsy excuse he made for not turning up says it all. Teng is apparently cheesed off with her because she has refused to discuss the issue of election candidates at state party meetings. His team feels that big decision on candidates should be shared by both factions. He also claimed that she holds pre-council meetings and, as a result, the actual meetings end up dealing with inconsequential matters.
Joceline Tan, The Star
TERESA Kok is known as the “Sassy MP” and her Facebook page shows her posing with a dragon head. She is also known as DAP’s Iron Lady in Selangor where she is the state party chairman.
Technically, that means she is the most powerful woman in the party in Selangor. But last Sunday, DAP’s Iron Lady was put on the defensive over the poor turnout at the Selangor DAP convention.
Of the 1,153 delegates, only 311 or 27% showed up for the annual meeting. The minimum quorum is 25% and party leaders were left struggling to explain the numbers. Many of them said this was usually the case in a non-election year for the party and delegates think it would not make a difference whether they are there or not.
Yet, this is as good as an election year with the general election so near. DAP is spearheading Pakatan Rakyat’s defence of Selangor, the party is the leader of the pack and the coalition is depending on DAP to deliver the bulk of the votes.
Size matters in politics and Kok ought to have used this final state convention before the polls as a show of force that the party is hungry, ready and able to hold on to Selangor. A huge turnout would have provided a more convincing backdrop to her rah-rah speech that her party wants to win another eight state seats. Sadly, she ended up talking big to a small hall.
Kok did not appreciate the questions raised about the low turnout and she attempted to brush it off in a rather casual manner, attributing it to some delegates being “lazy,” the rainy weather and that delegates had activities in their constituencies.
But there is another reason there is obviously some degree of sabotage going on.
Kok, who is Seputeh MP and Kinrara assemblywoman, is a popular figure in Selangor but she does not exactly have full control over her party. She has had problems consolidating the different factions in her party since becoming state chairman. She does not have the personality or the skills to manage the overnight success of the party.
For instance, Pandamaran assemblyman and state exco member Ronnie Liu has his own faction and is still very much a tai-kor or big brother figure in Selangor. He had even tried to replace the people whom Kok had nominated as municipal councillors several months ago.
Another faction led by State Speaker Datuk Teng Chang Khim is said to regard Kok as a puppet whose strings are being pulled by PJ Utara MP Tony Pua. Pua is the deputy state chairman but they call him the “de facto chairman”.
Kok’s image also took a knock when a sacked local leader in Selangor Tan Tuan Tat he insists he resigned went public with his criticism of her leadership. Sacked party members can hardly be expected to say nice things but Tan was merely articulating what people in the party had been gossiping in private that Kok’s rise in the party was because she was a loyalist of secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, the multiple salaries she is earning from her multiple positions and her limited leadership skills.
Then, there is the lingering unhappiness over whether she really deserves to be the Selangor chairman. In the 2010 state party election, Kok’s Unity Team was pitched against Teng’s Rainbow Team. Teng came in at fourth spot in the 15 seat line-up whereas Kok trailed in at the 11th spot.
But there was a lot of backroom horse-trading and Kok managed to secure the chairmanship by getting eight of the 15 office bearers on her side. As they say in politics, the best man does not always win.
Teng’s people have always suspected Teratai assemblywoman Jenice Lee as the one who gave Kok the crucial vote and they were delighted when Lee was ousted as the Selangor DAPSY chief last Saturday.
But the point is many people thought that her 11th position was an indication that she does not enjoy as much grassroots support as Teng, yet she became the boss and is holding some of the most lucrative posts in the Selangor government.
Given the history, it is inevitable that onlookers saw it as a reflection of the way people in the party feel about her.
The fact that Teng himself did not bother to attend and the flimsy excuse he made for not turning up says it all. Teng is apparently cheesed off with her because she has refused to discuss the issue of election candidates at state party meetings. His team feels that big decision on candidates should be shared by both factions. He also claimed that she holds pre-council meetings and, as a result, the actual meetings end up dealing with inconsequential matters.
But Klang MP Charles Santiago defended Kok as a consensus builder and said she had reached out to bring together the warring factions in Klang.
“Sometimes, you cannot please everybody. Even what you eat and wear can become an issue. She has been moving around and she’s trying her best,” said Santiago.
Overall, the convention was a missed opportunity for the DAP leaders to rally the troops for battle. DAP is the party in power in Selangor yet the mood at the convention was not that of a party ready for the mother of all battles. It was rather too subdued and the fighting spirit was not there.
Kok has no excuses actually because she has all the resources at her disposal. She is not only Selangor chairman, she is also the national organising secretary as well as the national secretary for the party’s women’s wing.
She has expressed confidence that most people in Selangor still want Pakatan but said that chances of winning would be jeopardised if Umno scares the Malay ground by using the religious and race card among Malays.
Instead of blaming Umno, Kok should take a good hard look at her own party organisation. Political parties rise and fall not only on the strengths and weaknesses of their opponent but also on their own strengths and weaknesses. There is still time to assess the party’s readiness for the election and do what needs to be done. The blame game is sounding like an old story.
