Guan Eng: Should we “bring back” the late Karpal Singh to hold DAP’s re-election?

Karpal Singh died on 17 April 2014 and DAP cannot hold a second party reelection unless he can be ‘brought back’

(MMO) – DAP’s Lim Guan Eng has asked whether the party should “bring back” its late chairman Karpal Singh to conduct a re-election for its committee as directed by the Registrar of Societies (RoS).

The party secretary-general told reporters that it is impossible to hold the re-election based on the list of delegates who had attended the party’s election in 2012, as some have left the party since, while others like Karpal have passed on.

“Those representatives in 2012, have all changed now. Some have left the party and some are no more. For example, our late former chairman of DAP, Karpal Singh.

“He is no more, so are we to go ask Karpal Singh to come back to cast his vote?” Lim asked in a press conference in Penang.

A recording of the press conference was made available to Malay Mail Online.

“So this is what we feel does not make sense. That’s why we feel this is such a weird matter. We are mystified because it is so out of source and doesn’t make sense,” Lim added.

Last week, when rejecting the 2013 edition of DAP’s central executive committee polls, RoS director-general Datuk Mohammad Razin Abdullah said that the fresh party polls must be based on the name list of DAP delegates who were eligible to vote in 2012, namely 2,576 delegates from 865 branches.

He added that only the legitimate CEC members recognised under the Societies Act 1966 and DAP’s party constitution could then appoint the key office-bearer, who is authorised to sign letters of appointment for the party’s election candidates to the Election Commission.

Mohammad Razin however added that RoS has no intention to deregister DAP, adding that it is still a legitimate party.

Lim however questioned if there is any warranty that the RoS would not instruct yet another re-election, should DAP abide by its orders and conduct fresh party polls this year.

“This gives an impression that when we listen to RoS’ order, do also not correct, don’t do also not correct. So what more? What more guarantee that the laws will be enforced? Although we were really dissatisfied at that time, we still conducted the re-election in 2013,” he added.

Earlier today, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said if DAP fails to follow the order to re-elect its central committee members, it may not have the credentials authorised by the RoS to contest in the next general elections.