Kit Siang still DAP’s illegal leader

In his desperation to prevent Tan Seng Giaw from winning the party election, Kit Siang has sacrificed both DAP and Pakatan Harapan. Kit Siang may have succeeded in killing off Tan Seng Giaw but in the same process he has killed off DAP and Pakatan Harapan as well. While Mahathir will be remembered as the man who killed Umno to kill Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Kit Siang will be remembered as the man who killed DAP (and Pakatan) to kill Tan Seng Giaw.

DAP: THE INSIDE STORY

Raja Petra Kamarudin

DAP’s recent illegal party election on 12th November 2017 has taken on a new dimension when the Registrar of Societies (RoS) announced that DAP’s questionable status (plus that of PPBM as well) is causing delays in the approval of the application to register Pakatan Harapan. Pakatan Harapan is supposed to be a coalition of four parties, DAP being one of them.

In fact, DAP is not merely one of the four parties but the lead party considering it controls the largest number of seats in the opposition coalition. DAP says it is going to win roughly 50 or so Parliament seats in the coming general election but even if it falls short and wins just 40 seats it is still going to control not less than 50% of the seats in the coalition.

Hence DAP’s questionable status cannot be treated lightly and is very crucial to the existence of Pakatan Harapan because, as they say in legal circles, the fruit of a poisonous tree is poisonous. So, if DAP is illegal, that would make Pakatan Harapan illegal as well. And since Lim Kit Siang is not only the leader of DAP but will also decide who from Pakatan Harapan will become Prime Minister if they win the general election that makes it a double whammy: especially if Kit Siang himself is going to be the Prime Minister.

How can an illegal leader from an illegal party in an illegal coalition become the Prime Minister of Malaysia if they do not solve DAP’s legal status first?

The thing is Kit Siang knows this so the question is: is he intentionally trying to block Pakatan Harapan from being registered (so that DAP can continue contesting the next general election under its own rocket banner instead of DAP’s candidates having to use the new Harapan banner) or was this an oversight on the part of Kit Siang?

Whether intentional or otherwise, Kit Siang had no choice but to cheat in the recent party election if he did not want Tan Seng Giaw to take over the leadership of DAP. This was also why they cheated in the 15th December 2012 party election five years ago and the re-election nine months later on 29th September 2013. It was so that Tan Seng Giaw would lose and Kit Siang, his son Lim Guan Eng, and their supporters and cronies would sweep the top 20 positions in the CEC.

The problem is Kit Siang is not as clever as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad when it comes to cheating in party elections so his amateur move was easily detected. And when they held their party re-election nine months later they repeated the same mistakes they made in the December 2012 party election. Most would have thought the December 2012 and September 2013 fiascos would have taught them a lesson. However, either due to stupidity or arrogance, in the recent party re-election on 12th November 2017 they repeated the same mistakes they made in December 2012 and September 2013.

Kit Siang had to cheat in the 15th December 2012, 29th September 2013, and 12th November 2017 party elections so that he can ensure this line-up minus Tan Seng Giaw and gang

In 2012, almost 2,600 delegates from 865 branches were eligible to attend the party election but between 1,200-1,300 or about half the delegates were prevented from attending. They did this by not sending the notice of the meeting to those people — and without this letter they were not allowed into the hall. On top of that the notices were sent late and not within the stipulated time according to the party constitution.

So that was two violations of the party constitution.

The actual number of delegates who attended the party election, though, was more than 1,800 and that was because more than 500 of the delegates were illegal since they were from branches that were not registered yet. So that is violation number three.

Many of those who were barred from attending the party election then lodged complaints with the RoS and based on these reports the RoS investigated the matter and instructed DAP to hold the party election again. They did, nine months later, but they continued with the trick of barring eligible candidates from attending while allowing illegal delegates to attend and make up the numbers.

In short they held the party re-election on 12 November 2017 but continued with the fraud they pulled off on 15th December 2012 and 29th September 2013 — which is only 1,356 delegates out of more than 2,500 delegates were allowed to attend the party election. And, of course, when you perpetuate the same fraud, you will end up with the same result — which was to prevent Tan Seng Giaw and his team from taking over the party while Kit Siang and his son and supporters swept the top 20 slots of the CEC.

So DAP’s questionable status, the result of election fraud in December 2012 and September 2013, continues. And the 12th November 2017 party election did not address and correct what happened on 15th December 2012 and 29th September 2013. DAP’s CEC is still illegal, as it has been the last five years.

Kit Siang’s target is to prevent Tan Seng Giaw from winning the party election

Kit Siang is not only putting DAP at risk but Pakatan Harapan as well. Whether the DAP candidates can contest the coming general election under the Pakatan Harapan banner is one issue. Whether the DAP candidates can even use their own rocket logo and banner is questionable. The DAP candidates might have to do what they had planned to do in the 2013 general election: which is to contest the general election under PAN’s banner.

In his desperation to prevent Tan Seng Giaw from winning the party election, Kit Siang has sacrificed both DAP and Pakatan Harapan. Kit Siang may have succeeded in killing off Tan Seng Giaw but in the same process he has killed off DAP and Pakatan Harapan as well. While Mahathir will be remembered as the man who killed Umno to kill Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Kit Siang will be remembered as the man who killed DAP (and Pakatan) to kill Tan Seng Giaw.