KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong pleaded today with Dr Boo Cheng Hau to reconsider his decision to resign from his position as state Opposition Leader.
Although he did not address Dr Boo’s claims of sabotage within the opposition party, Liew denied that it was a personal attack when the state committee barred him from being involved in other constituencies.
“In May 2014, after complaints from elected reps of meddling by Dr. Boo in their constituencies which resulted in contradictions, the State Committee unanimously decided that the local elected rep should be consulted before another elected rep gets involved in the affairs of other constituencies.
“This is to avoid confusion and contradiction in the eyes of the public,” he said in a statement.
Liew, whose current post was previously held by Dr Boo for nine years before he lost it last year, also denied claims that Dr Boo had “opened up” Johor to the party’s central leaders.
He pointed out that it had been part of the party’s national strategy to make Johor its frontline state with national leaders contesting in difficult Barisan Nasional (BN) seats in the last federal polls.
“It was a strategy first proposed by Dr. Boo soon after the 2008 general election and one that is fully embraced by DAP members and the electorate,” he added.
He also said that the Skudai assemblyman’s claims that there were 97 branches but 20 had their status downgraded and lost their voting rights, hence depriving Dr. Boo’s chances of winning, were untrue.
The 2013 branch list used in the January 2014 party election consisted of 74 valid branches while the 2015 list has 77 branches.
Liew, who is the Kluang MP, said he hoped that those who were not elected to the state committee over the weekend, alluding to Dr Boo, can continue to “contribute positively to advance the party’s interest”.
“Party elections should be a friendly match among comrades to choose a set of leaders best suited to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of leading and charting the course for the party’s future. Let’s not burn the house down just because of internal differences,” he said.
Liew admitted that there are still plenty of opportunities for the party to transform, noting that the challenges ahead for the country are huge.
“It is in this context that I urge Sdr. Dr. Boo Cheng Hau to reconsider his decision to resign from his position as State Opposition Leader.
“On behalf of the Party, I thank him for his past contributions to DAP Johor and I hope he will accept the co-option to be a DAP State Committee member,” he said.
On Sunday, Dr Boo was ousted from Johor’s 15-man committee after failing to secure enough votes in the party elections.
Yesterday, he announced that he will resign from his state opposition leader post as he can no longer perform with the continuous sabotage and character assassination attempts from within the party in the state.
