Prove your honesty, debate ‘Father Augustus Chen’ expose, Utusan tells DAP

(The Malay Mail) – Utusan Malaysia suggested today that the DAP expose by the mysterious “Father Augustus Chen” be made the subject of a public debate, saying this would allow the opposition party prove it has “self-respect”.

The expose, a 16-page booklet titled “Equity Report” that accuses DAP stalwarts like Lim Kit Siang of alleged voter manipulation during the party’s internal polls, is currently the subject of an ongoing defamation suit between Lim and the Umno-owned daily.

But in an editorial today, the papers editors under the pseudonym “Awang Selamat” insisted that the allegations made by the shadowy priestly figure in the book were true and not a “figment” of its imagination, as Lim has claimed in court.

“Baffling why DAP’s central leaders are still unashamedly allowing the party to continue operating even without recognition from the Registrar of Societies (RoS), following many complaints from its members of misconduct in the election of the Central Executive Committee (CEC),” Awang wrote in the article onMingguan Malaysia, the daily’s weekend edition.

Awang also noted that 120 party branches have yet to be registered by the party, although its members were allowed to vote during the internal polls.

This, said Awang, is among the allegations raised by Chen in his controversial DAP expose.

“It is not important who the writer is but what is more valuable is the contents of the book, which is the truth about many issues.

Last month, the DAP withdrew a judicial review filed against the RoS, after the regulator conceded that its refusal to recognise the party’s central executive committee (CEC) was not legally enforceable.

After withdrawing the matter, the party demanded that the RoS speed up the process of registering 120 of its new branches, which was put on hold pending the court case.

Noting that the DAP has not stalled operations despite failing to obtain the RoS’ nod, Awang labelled the DAP an “illegal political party” and said the current CEC lineup is just a “phantom” leadership.

“Awang suggests that Father Augustus Chen’s expose be made the subject of a public debate, in which leaders including DAP members could particpate in,” he wrote.

“This is also an opportunity for the DAP to prove that the party that obtained majority support from the Chinese community has self-respect.”

The mysterious Chen was also featured prominently in a news report titled “Kit Siang Manipulasi, Pemilihan CEC” (Kit Siang manipulated the CEC election) by an Utusan Malaysia reporter, Kasthuri K Manimaran, published in August last year, which supported claims that Lim had manipulated the CEC polls result.

Lim had filed a defamation suit against Utusan last September as he claimed the state-owned newspaper was intentionally spreading lies to tarnish his image.

On August 21, Lim as the plaintiff’s first witness had testified that the allegations were a “figment of imagination” and “blatant and outright lies”, claiming that the Utusan article was part of “a plot” against him and DAP leaders.

Both plaintiffs and the defendants made their final submissions in the matter on October 3 and the High Court is scheduled to deliver its decision on December 10.