“Guan Eng secretly approved a lot more than 120 branches just to “legitimize” the delegates his men ‘smuggled’ into the election hall in 2012. However, the “new branches” were unconstitutional, considering that the CEC had already been declared illegal and lacked jurisdiction to approve anything, forget the branches”
THE THIRD FORCE
Last Thursday, the man who is not supposed to be the Secretary-General of the DAP, Lim Guan Eng, told a press conference that his party was ‘stunned’ by a Registrar of Societies (RoS) directive requiring it to re-elect its Central Executive Committee (CEC). According to him, the RoS hinged its decision solely on “false and unfounded allegations” that were derived from “a book by a fictitious Father Augustus Chen.”
To bring you up to speed, on the 7th of July 2017, the RoS declared the CEC illegal after conducting a thorough probe into reports of electoral irregularities, lodged in 2013 by members of the DAP. Despite maintaining the reports to be fake, Guan Eng told newsmen on Thursday that a re-election was definitely on the cards, stressing that he “never said no” to the idea.
But there were strings attached.
According to him, the party would only arrive at a decision once it met the RoS, implying that the official notice issued by the statutory body wasn’t “clear enough.” Then, almost as if to contradict him, Teresa Kok told newsmen last Saturday that the DAP would go ahead and re-elect its CEC through a “Special Congress,” which, according to her, was “provided for by the party constitution.”
So, in just three days, the DAP went from “well, maybe we’ll do a re-election,” to “yeah, we’re sure as hell gonna do it.” Working on these developments, let us ask ourselves some fundamental questions, beginning with the one subject to the most number of spins by Lim Kit Siang and his son, Lim Guan Eng.
Was the 2013 CEC re-election rigged?
Think about it.
If indeed the RoS is out to sabotage the DAP, why would Guan Eng even bother with a re-election? Isn’t it obvious that he knows what the RoS already knows, that the 2013 re-election was heavily rigged? So, the bigger question we should be asking ourselves is this – was Kok herself complicit with Guan Eng to rig the election?
After all, wasn’t it she who announced – presumably, on his behalf – that the party would pursue the election track (instead of seeking recourse to courts)? Perhaps she herself has something to hide. Perhaps, she joined Liew Chin Tong and Anthony Loke Siew Fook behind the curtains to mark the half-filled ballots cast by phantom voters in 2013.
I mean, who knows, right?
Why did Guan Eng accuse the RoS of sabotage?
He did much worse.
On the 18th of April 2013, he told a press conference at Wisma DAP that the RoS was “playing politics” to sabotage the party’s chances at the (then upcoming) general election, adding that the “evil and wicked” Barisan Nasional (BN) government was using “underhanded tactics” to undermine the DAP.
Ever since, he and his father have been to town on multiple occasions, impressing upon people that BN under Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak was “the worst BN in national history.” Guan Eng went so far as to tell newsmen that previous BN administrations would simply “take you on,” but under Najib, they just “knock you out though political assignation.”
“They do not even dare to face us fair and square, man to man, woman to woman,” he added.
Woman to man, anyone?
What is Guan Eng up to?
Exactly what Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim was once up to.
To better appreciate this viewpoint, allow me to refer you to an incident that took place on the 16th of July 2016. On that day, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company appointed by Guan Eng’s Penang administration to build an undersea tunnel served Gerakan with a legal notice for asking too many questions.
One of the questions posed pertained documents bearing designs for the tunnel and results of a feasibility study, which Gerakan insisted the state government had paid too much for. When pressed for answers, Guan Eng accused BN of sabotaging Penang’s progress by calling the coalition “traditional saboteurs.”
When pressed even further, he insisted that a detailed explanation of the cost structure had already been provided by his reps. But the only two attempts ever made plunged his administration further into murky waters. When questioned, one of his reps, Chow Kon Yeow, performed some math that was more magic than it was anything else.
The fact is, not only did the Guan Eng administration overpay the SPV by about RM220 million, it broke established procurement guidelines when awarding the mega-project to the company. Instead of apologising, the junior Lim further accused BN of conspiring with the RoS to sabotage the DAP, adding that the RoS plan was to cripple the party administration and its preparation for the 14th general election.
See a pattern yet?
Guan Eng wants you to believe that BN is attacking him from all angles to destroy his career, just as Anwar did in 1998. He will stop at nothing to deliver this impression and even accused the ruling coalition of fabricating a bungalow-for-land scam conspiracy just to send him to jail.
Now, doesn’t that sound like Anwar Ibrahim to you?
Why doesn’t Guan Eng sue the RoS then?
Because he can’t.
The fact remains, Guan Eng and his men – Liew Chin Tong and Anthony Loke – rigged the party’s 2012 and 2013 polls to “kill off” its vice-chairman, Tan Seng Giaw. According to reports, the second poll saw the emergence of 120 “phantom branches,” which Guan Eng now insists had never sent delegates to vote.
But that is a lie.
The truth is, Guan Eng secretly approved a lot more than 120 branches just to “legitimize” the delegates his men ‘smuggled’ into the election hall in 2012. However, the “new branches” were unconstitutional, considering that the CEC has already been declared illegal and therefore, lacked jurisdiction to approve anything, forget the branches.
A trapped Guan Eng now insists that the very first time the number 120 popped up was in a “court confirmed fictitious report” by a “fictitious Father Augustus Chen.” Back in August 2013, his father accused UMNO of fabricating the report as part of its “war-room psy-war” campaign against the DAP.” Last Thursday, Guan Eng went so far as to tell newsmen that the RoS hinged its decision squarely on the book.
But even that is a lie.
The truth is, the existence of the “phantom branches” was first made mention not by “Father Augustus Chen,” but by a group of disgruntled party members who were denied invitation letters to the 2012 and 2013 polls. The group, which lodged reports with the RoS, raised concerns that the 2013 re-election was illegal as the party’s constitution did not provision for an election to be carried out through a ‘Special Congress’.
Given the above, the onus is now for Guan Eng to prove – beyond reasonable doubt – that the RoS did in fact hinge its decision squarely on the so-called “court confirmed fictitious report.” Should he fail to do so, he would have to publically admit that he cooked the whole story up just to shift the spotlight away from the CEC.
But do you think he will ever do that?
Can the DAP re-elect its CEC via a Special Congress?
No, it can’t.
When Teresa Kok told reporters it could, she was lying. She knows as well as I do that the party constitution provisions nothing to that effect, making any attempt by the DAP to conduct a re-election via a ‘Special Congress’ illegal. But that is precisely what Guan Eng and Teresa Kok are aiming to do.
As a matter of fact, it was the exact same strategy contrived by the late Karpal Singh in 2013. On the 15th of August that year, Karpal told newsmen that the party had resolved to convene a ‘Special Congress’ to re-elect its CEC despite finding the RoS directive lacking “the sanctity and authority of law.”
Karpal said this in spite of an earlier warning by the RoS for the party to amend its constitution. In fact, on the 2nd of September 2013, the RoS confirmed that it had yet to receive necessary documents to validate a ‘Special Congress’, warning the party to comply with all procedures before conducting a re-election.
There is ample evidence to prove that the DAP was put on sufficient guard and had no basis to convene a ‘Special Congress’. Yet, it went ahead and did just that, knowing well in advance that the CEC would not be recognized by the RoS. Question is, why did Karpal, being the party’s legal counsel, not explain all this to Guan Eng?
Was he complicit with the Lims in rigging the party elections?
Will the RoS ever meet Guan Eng?
Not a cat in hell’s chance.
The RoS would never be able to entertain a request for a meeting, considering that the CEC was declared illegal by the statutory body in 2012 and again, this year. Ergo, any meeting between the two could and would be construed as a tacit approval by the RoS of the CEC’s legality. In simple terms, meeting the CEC would be akin to the RoS shooting itself in its own foot.
It is highly likely that the CEC’s decision to seek a meeting with the RoS was a ploy by Guan Eng to have the party’s highest decision making body ‘declared’ legal in the court of public opinion. Either that, or it was another attempt by his father, Lim Kit Siang, to spin the “BN sabotage” theory out of proportion. Perhaps, it was a little of this and a little of that.
Perhaps, it was both.
Note: …the CEC had already been declared illegal and lacked jurisdiction to approve anything, forget the branches…
was corrected to…
…the CEC has already been declared illegal and therefore, lacked jurisdiction to approve anything, forget the branches.
