‘Sacked’ DAP man told to attend congress
The court orders expelled DAP branch leader to attend the CEC re-election exercise this Sunday.
Athi Shankar, FMT
The Sessions Court here today told sacked DAP branch leader and delegate G Asoghan to attend the party’s scheduled re-election this Sunday, Sept 29.
Sessions Court’s senior registrar Khairul Farhi Yusob told this to Asoghan through his counsel V Amareson after the DAP informed the court that it could not reach a consensus on Asoghan’s membership status.
Amareson said Khairul then fixed Oct 30 for case decision.
Asoghan later told newsmen that he would attend the re-election as directed by court.
Asoghan was chairman of the Jalan Bagan Luar branch and a party delegate to national congress when he was sacked by the party on April 23 this year.
He filed his writ on June 3 seeking the court to declare his termination by the party’s five-man disciplinary committee, comprising Tan Kok Wai, Tan Siang Piau, M Kulasegaran, P Ramasamy and Lim Hock Seng, as null and void. Besides the five, he also named the party as the sixth defendant.
He also seeks damages, costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.
Kok Wai issued Asoghan a termination letter for his “act of standing as an independent candidate in the Bagan Dalam state constituency” in the last general election.
The letter said the offence was a “serious breach of party discipline”.
When the case was up for management on Sept 18, the DAP had requested for a postponement.
The party wanted a few more days to resolve the issue in view of the invitation to Asoghan, via a notice dated Sept 4, to attend the special party congress and vote as a legitimate delegate in its central executive committee (CEC) polls.
Both parties mutually agreed for the case to be heard today.
Asoghan had said last week that he could not attend the party election without being officially reinstated. He had hoped for a reinstatement by way of consent judgment.
But his hope was dashed today when DAP’s legal counsel Muhamed Arif Shaharudin told Khairul in chambers that the party had failed to reach a decision during a high-powered leadership meeting last Saturday.
