A sensational new website called ‘DAP Insider’ has emerged overnight as the campaign for the DAP election gathers momentum ahead of the national congress this weekend.
But even without the website popping up at this time, it is widely known by now that Kok and Pua, who are the Selangor chairman and deputy chairman, respectively, have ganged up to make sure that former Selangor strongman Ronnie Liu does not make it into the 20-seat CEC or central executive committee.
Joceline Tan, The Star
THE undercurrents in the DAP election are bubbling to the surface and a new website has emerged that has its guns turned on certain personalities in the party.
Titled “DAP Insider – Be The First To Know” (dapinsider.com), the week-old website is a sensational collection of articles about who is trying to finish who off in the party election in Penang this Saturday as well as spilling secrets about the internal DAP politics in Selangor.
To date, the No. 1 target of the English language website seems to be Selangor chairman Teresa Kok.
Kok, who holds a string of positions in the party and government, is seen as the most powerful woman in DAP. Unfortunately, that also makes her the object of much jealousy and envy.
The secondary target seems to be PJ Utara MP Tony Pua who is being portrayed as the puppet-master pulling the strings behind Kok.
The website portrays Kok and Pua as a Machiavellian pair trying to eliminate people who are not in their camp.
It is all very entertaining although it is best read with a pinch of salt.
But even without the website popping up at this time, it is widely known by now that Kok and Pua, who are the Selangor chairman and deputy chairman, respectively, have ganged up to make sure that former Selangor strongman Ronnie Liu does not make it into the 20-seat CEC or central executive committee.
These two powerful figures see Liu as a black sheep and a liability to the party.
Sources said that if they succeed, it would give the leadership a basis to drop Liu in the general election.
However, some say this type of campaigning may backfire because some delegates get turned off by negative canvassing.
“It is okay to campaign for support for yourself. Go ahead, tell everybody why you deserve to be in but when you run down the other person, it can blow up in your face,” said a Selangor DAP figure.
Liu, who is also a state exco member, is fighting for his survival. He was in Perak and Johor last week, meeting with delegates to persuade them to support him.
He needs to win a CEC seat to stay in the reckoning as an election candidate and he is lobbying to move from his state seat in Pandamaran to the Serdang parliamentary seat.
Kok also wants to get rid of Datuk Teng Chang Khim who is the Selangor vice-chairman and State Legislative Assembly Speaker. However, according to the website, Teng is seen as a voice of conscience in the party and is harder to take on.
But Kok will go for him next if she succeeds in eliminating Liu.
Another amusing posting in the website is titled “Skyfall – Karpal’s Last Stand”. Unfortunately, Karpal is no James Bond and according to the posting, this may be Karpal’s last stand because he is up against some very powerful forces in the party.
However, the website was wrong about the Dapsy contest last Sunday.
It had predicted that Perak’s Wong Kah Woh would win the Dapsy chairmanship but the winner was Negri Sembilan’s Teo Kok Seong.
The contest, which had been dubbed the “North versus the South”, saw the South beating the daylights out of the North.
Every single name on Teo’s cai dan or menu was voted in.
It was a delicious victory for Teo and his mentor, the outgoing Dapsy chief Anthony Loke.
It also speaks volumes of Loke’s organisational skills and his growing clout in the party.
“The campaign was intense but it was conducted in a healthy manner. I think Dapsy has shown the way forward,” said Loke.
Wong took his defeat like a gentleman and both the winner and loser even hugged each other.
However, the other big casualty, Ng Wei Aik, looked shell-shocked after losing to a relative unknown Tan Hong Pin for the Dapsy secretary’s post.
Ng probably did not imagine that he would lose because he enjoys an exceptionally high-profile as the political secretary to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
The irony here was that Tan used to work for Johor DAP chairman Dr Boo Cheng Hau who has a history of disagreements with Lim.
Ng’s loss had less to do with his boss than with his own controversial personality.
Ng, who is also Komtar assemblyman and Penang DAP secretary, is hard-working and gets things done.
Unfortunately, he tends to be over-zealous and often puts his foot in his mouth. He was the early favourite to win because he had raised his profile by lobbying to be made the Speaker at a number of the party’s state conventions.
He should regard this as a wake-up call because his defeat suggests that the younger delegates are quite discerning and are not bowled over by those with high-level connections.
It also lends credence to Internet gossip that the Little Napoleons on Komtar’s 28th floor are not well liked by people inside and outside the party.
There were 46 candidates vying for 15 committee posts in Dapsy and several big names ended up in the bottom 10.
Among them were Miri MP Ling Sie Kiong, Subang assemblyman Hannah Yeoh, Kampung Tunku assemblyman Lau Weng San and Meradong assemblyman Ting Tze Fui.
The Dapsy election outcome has raised questions over whether there might be more surprises in store at the CEC election.
About 700 or 28% of the 2,500 delegates scheduled to vote at the CEC election this weekend are first-time and younger delegates and party leaders are wondering what sort of impact they will bring.
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