PETALING JAYA, July 30 — The DAP cried foul today at the prospect of having to face fresh party polls again, saying the Registrar of Societies (RoS) was likely just fixing up the party at the behest of Barisan Nasional (BN).
Lim Guan Eng (picture) said the RoS was contradicting itself by declaring the DAP’s newly-elected central executive committee (CEC) illegal even when its director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman has been referring to him as DAP secretary-general in all formal correspondence this year.
He pointed out that during the just-concluded May 5 general election, the RoS had even permitted the DAP to use its rocket symbol for its candidates.
“For the RoS to claim now that the DAP CEC is not recognised is self-contradictory,” he said in a statement.
Lim also drew question marks over how it had been Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and not the RoS to announce that the DAP would have to go for re-election.
He said that at the time of writing, the RoS has yet to communicate its decision to the party.
“When DAP national organising secretary and MP for Seremban Anthony Loke visited the RoS headquarters in Putrajaya this morning, he was informed that the letter was not ready to be sent yet,” Lim said.
“Has RoS surrendered its professionalism and integrity to Umno and BN to be a willing tool to fix up BN’s political enemies?” he asked.
Chinese-language daily Sin Chew Daily had reported Zahid as saying today that the RoS was dissatisfied with the DAP’s explanation on the counting mistake made during its internal polls last year and will soon direct the party to go for elections again.
The Malay Mail Online confirmed the matter with Abdul Rahman later.
Lim said this appeared as though the RoS had already made up its mind to “fix up” the DAP as no serious consideration had been given to explanations from his party that the internal polls held last December had been above board and democratic.
“The only mistake was in the posting of the results by the returning officer that led to the wrong votes being announced for the successful candidates,” he explained.
But Lim said that when the error was discovered, it was immediately admitted to and subsequently rectified.
“The party is now punished for refusing to hide mistakes and by being honest and truthful,” he said.
In view of the recent development, Lim said an emergency CEC meeting will be held at the party headquarters tomorrow.
“As this is a clear act of political vengeance and an illegal abuse of power, the DAP CEC shall consider all options as provided for under the Societies Act, after receiving a written directive from RoS,” he said.
On January 4 this year, Lim revealed that an internal audit showed errors in the tabulation of votes from the December 15, 2012 party elections which, he said, were caused by a technical glitch when the results were transferred to a computer using the Microsoft Excel programme.
The amendments resulted in Lim’s political secretary, Zairil Khir Johari, moving up from 39th position to 20th ― the last elected position in the party’s CEC.
Following complaints by some members, the RoS began investigations that at one point led to fears that the party would be unable to use its logo in the Election 2013.
But DAP candidates then went on to contest in the national polls using its logo, after the RoS confirmed the validity of the party CEC’s appointment letters to candidates.
