Guan Eng issues rare rebuke to Karpal: Discuss Ramasamy within party channels

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng issued a rare rebuke to party chairman Karpal Singh, calling on the senior leader "to use internal party channels" to resolve the disagreement with P Ramasamy, who is the DAP Penang Deputy Chief Minister.

"To publicly state party internal matters will only benefit BN who will use this to their advantage, causing anguish to our supporters and delighting our opponents. This is the first time that I aware of Saudara Karpal's concerns which he stated in the press, and we should be discussing these matters internally first," Guan Eng said in a terse media statement.

Warlord vs Godfather

A quarrel had erupted between Karpal and Ramasamy late last year, when the latter named three individuals as DAP candidates for the next general election. Karpal ticked him for behaving like a "warlord", saying it was not Ramasamy's place to make such announcements. However, Ramasamy responded that the party could do without "godfathers".

The spat went all the way to the party's disciplinary committee, which recently cleared Ramasamy of breaching party discipline when he led a demonstration against DAP leaders in December following the verbal jousting with Karpal.

In a hard-hitting press conference held on Sunday, Karpal said the four-member DAP disciplinary committee headed by chairman Tan Kok Wai was not fit to probe Dr Ramasamy, who also sits in the committee.

Karpal said the committee members, including Penang state executive councillor Lim Hock Seng and Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran, should have stepped down and allowed new committee members to investigate the matter.

“The proceeding should be void ab initio (from the beginning) and the three should not judge one of their own. The seed of destruction was already in the panel, in the form of being able to judge (one of their own). In this case, I think all three should have disclosed their interest and stepped down. Let other people hear the case,” Karpal told reporters.

Meanwhile, Guan Eng is expected to arrange a meeting with Karpal and other leaders over the next few days to resolve the spat.

Malaysia Chronicle