Father Augustus Chen, wherefore art thou?

Mystery continues to shroud the character of Father Augustus Chen, who purportedly penned a damming report alleging electoral fraud in DAP's party elections last year.

Yesterday, Malaysiakinicontacted the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Malaysia which confirmed that no such person existed on the their list of registered Catholic priests in Malaysia.

The Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM), which represents the Protestant and Orthodox denominations, said that Protestant priests do not use the title "father" and the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship confirmed that Evangelicals do not either.

While the Orthodox priests do, CCM said there were no Chinese orthodox priests registered in Malaysia.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang had denounced Chen as a "phantom" and a figment of "BN's imagination" and gave the priest seven days to surface to prove his existence.

Lim went on to add that if Chen failed to materialise the Registrar of Societies (ROS) should withdraw its demands for DAP to hold fresh central executive committee (CEC) elections.

Chen's booklet entitled "The Equity Report (CEC election fraud)" alleged that some 1,300 delegates did not receive notice of the CEC elections in December because they were not supporters of Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.  

According to Chen, 547 illegal delegates were brought in to vote to ensure the political survival of Guan Eng and Kit Siang.

Chen also claimed that Seremban MP Anthony Loke and Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua wanted a Malay to be elected to the CEC and manipulated polling numbers in favour of Zairil Abdullah.