DAP’s Lims sweat over dissenters

Those familiar with the inner workings of DAP know too well that public displays of dissent against the party leadership have proven fatal to careers in DAP for some of the brightest young talents, such as current Wangsa Maju independent member of parliament Wee Choo Keong.

Shahrum Sayuthi, NST

All eyes will be trained on DAP this weekend as delegates, some severely critical of the party for failing to live up to its “democratic” name by twice delaying party polls, head into its congress in Penang to vote on who will lead the charge into the 13th general election.

The cynics are not too optimistic that there would be anything new.

It’s hard to blame them as past experiences point to the central executive committee (CEC) line-up to be likely dominated by personalities aligned to party adviser Lim Kit Siang and his son, secretary-general Guan Eng.

That the party had chosen to settle the issue of leadership so close to the general election seems to suggest an initiative to endorse the current batch of party leaders.

  It could very well be a means to snuff out any hints that the party suffers from a paralysis of democratic leadership due to the  dominance of a few individuals, particularly the Lims.

  Those familiar with the inner workings of DAP know too well that public displays of dissent against the party leadership have proven fatal to careers in DAP for some of the brightest young talents, such as current Wangsa Maju independent member of parliament Wee Choo Keong.

  Wee was expelled from the party in 1998 following clashes with Lim Kit Siang and his lieutenants.

  The status quo, however, may be broken this time.   

  Tongues are wagging that the results of the party's just-concluded women and youth wings' elections on Sunday intimate a shift of attitude at the grassroots level.

  Several candidates, considered by observers as proxies of top party leaders, including Guan Eng, had suffered losses to those who were aligned to "rebels" known for working more independently outside the CEC.

  Enroute to capturing the Youth Wing's top post, Bahau member of parliament Teo Kok Seong defeated Canning assemblyman Wong Kah Woh.

  Teo was backed by Negri Sembilan DAP chief Anthony Loke, who was the outgoing youth chief, while Wong was strongly lobbied by the powerful Perak DAP cousins, Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming, who are known to be close allies of Guan Eng.

  Teo's victory not only strengthens Loke's position in Negri Sembilan, where DAP is hoping to put up a strong showing in the general election, but also paves the way for the Rasah MP to win a seat in the CEC at the party's polls.

  Guan Eng's stature suffered a serious   beating at the Youth Wing's polls when his political secretary, Ng Wei Aik, who is Komtar assemblyman, lost the important secretary post to Tan Hong Pin, the Johor youth chief.

  Tan is "the right hand man" of Johor DAP chief Dr Boo Cheng Hau, who is well-known for his independent stance and, unsurprisingly, not at all close to Guan Eng and his circle of supporters.

  The Johor opposition leader, highly popular among members, had been locked in a public internal battle against a group of party leaders in the state known to be backed by Guan Eng's faction.

  With his protege winning such an important post in the youth wing by beating Guan Eng's man, Dr Boo is expected to not only retain his CEC post, but probably even climb further up in the party's hierarchy, thus offering a serious alternative for the party's future leadership.

  Attempts to confine changes to within the circle of the Lim family's proxies also appeared to meet with resistance when even the highly prominent Teresa Kok lost to incumbent women's wing chief Chong Eng, who is  Bukit Mertajam MP.

 Kok, despite the strong backing of the party's top echelon and her impressive credentials as the party's national organising secretary, Seputeh MP and Kinrara assemblyman, failed to impress the women delegates who preferred the older Chong at the party's first-ever women's wing's elections.

  Against this backdrop of simmering dissent against the party leadership's status quo, some surprises are likely this weekend.

  Former party vice-chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim is convinced that the results of the DAP youth and women's wings' polls justify the existence of differences of views within the party, especially on where members' loyalty should be placed.

  "It also shows that party members have their own views of the Lim family's domination of the party and the way it is being treated like a family property."

  Tunku Aziz, who was pressured to quit the party for his dissenting views on the Bersih 3.0 rally earlier this year, insists that there is "a lot of unhappiness" in the party.

  Nonetheless, he cautions that the dissenting faction in DAP still faces an uphill task to initiate changes within the party, despite their expected strong showing at the party polls.

  "The Lim family and their supporters will definitely fight back and, as proven in the past, DAP members with  differing views will have to suffer for it."