IT doesn’t make sense for DAP to use the same delegates list for the re-election of its central executive committee (CEC), party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today.

Referring to the Registrar of Societies’ (RoS) instruction, he said it was impossible to use the same list as some members had left the party while others, like then chairman Karpal Singh, had died.

If the same order was to be applied to the last general election in 2013, Lim asked whether it would be possible for the ruling party Barisan Nasional to use the same line-up to campaign and contest.

“The DAP delegates’ list from 2012 and the list we have now can’t be the same. Some delegates are no longer with the party. Do we ask Karpal to come back and vote? If he can, he will since this will make him very angry.

“Let’s say the 2013 general election is invalid and now we need a re-election four years down the road. Does it also mean what has been done by the prime minister all this while is invalid?

“And now Najib Razak and (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman and former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad will have to sit next to each other again? Dr Mahathir was still with BN in 2013,” he told reporters in Penang.

On Friday, RoS director-general Mohammad Razin Abdullah in a statement said the DAP’s CEC re-election in 2013 was not held in accordance with the law, so it was invalid.

He said with regard to complaints by DAP members about the CEC re-election on September 29, 2013, the RoS found the appointment of the CEC and main office-bearers to be invalid.

“The re-election should have been based on the delegates’ list used for the DAP CEC election held on December 15, 2012 involving 2,576 delegates from 854 branches,” he said.

The DAP’s RoS troubles started after a “copy paste” error was made during the vote count in the original party polls in December 2012, causing irregularities in the CEC election results.

The mistake was later discovered and corrected but unhappy members filed complaints with RoS, leading to the elected CEC to be declared invalid. DAP held a re-election in September 2013, and elected its current line-up of leaders.

Yesterday, DAP’s CEC in an emergency meeting decided not to hold a fresh party election, and would seek a meeting with RoS to “clear the air”.

Lim said the whole issue gave the impression that whether one followed the RoS directive or not, one would still be in the wrong.

He said when RoS first ordered DAP to hold a re-election in 2013, the party complied after it could not get a chance to meet RoS, even though they thought the order was unfair.

“Now, four years later, we are again being told to hold a fresh party election. It is so out of sorts. It doesn’t make sense.

“What guarantee do we have that if we hold a re-election now, RoS won’t tell us to do a repeat another four years from now because they will insist that we follow the 2012 namelist?

“There is no clarity, no certainly. Only utter confusion and ridicule.”

Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, would not speculate whether the party would consider taking legal action to resolve DAP’s issue with RoS, insisting that the party must meet the federal body first.

“As we still have not received any letter from RoS, we have to see them to clear the air,” he said, adding that DAP national legal bureau chairman Gobind Singh Deo, acting chairman Tan Kok Wai, and national organising secretary Anthony Loke had been tasked with the responsibility.

Lim also reiterated that RoS first issuing a statement on DAP’s CEC being invalid without even sending a formal notification to the party was mala fide (bad faith) and politically motivated.

“It is a persecution on DAP to deflect our preparations for the next general election, which is likely only months from now. 

“It is a dirty tactic to cripple our party administration and election machinery,” he added.

The last time DAP had trouble with the RoS, it was several months before the 13th general election. There were worries then whether DAP’s candidates could contest using the iconic rocket logo.

At the time, its PKR and PAS partners in Pakatan Rakyat stepped up and offered their party logos to DAP candidates. – July 9, 2017.