KUALA LUMPUR: Will the special DAP CEC polls, ordered by the Registrar of Societies, go on as scheduled on Sunday or will it be called off and held at a later date, as demanded by some party members.
The issue hinges on how the High Court would rule on Friday.
And one core issues is whether Sunday's poll is a special congress as the DAP has deemed it or whether it is a national congress, as the Registrar of Societies had wanted it when he ordered the polls held again on July 30.
A lot depend on the terms although for the party delegates attending Sunday's meeting it is more semantics then anything.
For lawyers however the differences indeed matters as lawyers for both sides had argued.
For one things the number of days one gives in notice for the meeting varies between a special congress and a national congress.
If it is a special congress the party constitution stipulates that a seven-day notice be issued to all branches to attend the special congress which DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng had done so.
But if it is a national congress as wanted by the ROS, then a 10-weeks’ notice must be issued in accordance with Art 6, Clause 8 of the DAP constitution.
Some members says they have not been issued with sufficient notice citing Art 6 while the party has said it has given more than the required amount of seven days’ notice.
A related issue, as argued by Karpal Singh in the High Court on Wednesday, is whether Sec 18c of the Societies Act 1966 applies.
Karpal, who is acting for Guan Eng and the DAP, argued that the section forbids the court from questioning any decision of a political party on any matters relating to party affairs.
That section states that a decision of a political party or its authorised official is final and conclusive and cannot be question by any court, an amendment introduced in the aftermath of a decision by High Court to declare Umno illegal in 1987.
Karpal wants the suit brought by DAP Ladang Paroi branch vice-chairman A. David Dass to be struck off.
David Dass lawyer K. Harikrishnan however disagreed saying the decision to hold a re-election was made by the Registrar and therefore the court had the jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The High Court will make a ruling on Friday and it will have a major impact on the DAP –whether it can go on with Sunday’s meeting or whether the meeting is postponed to a letter date.
But however decision goes one thing is for certain - the era of a near monolithic control over the DAP that adviser Lim Kit Siang had erstwhile exercised appears to be over.
“Lim and his group of loyalist had virtually hired or fired anybody in the party who they did not like or had questioned their decision,” said a senior party member.
“That era is over. The party has gained more membership and has changed considerably in a short time…we have to be more democratic and transparent,” he said. "We cannot hire and fire as we like."
“We have to allow dissenting views, not shut them off,” he said adding members can go to the RoS or to the courts to get justice or an airing of their grouses.
Another DAP leader however disagrees saying the party should have acted sternly against those members who go to court or to the RoS.
“They are troublemakers and they deserve any disciplinary action that is taken against them,” he said.
The crux of the issue was originally the “election” of Zairil Khir Johari to the CEC on Dec 15 but has since evolved into issues of irregularities and other shortcomings with some members going to RoS to lodge formal complains.
Three weeks after the Dec 15 polls Guan Eng announced that a “glitch” had occurred in the spread sheet software and that Zairil, who was in number 39, was indeed elected to the CEC.
Some members cried foul and brought up other irregularities and urged the ROS to intervene leading to the ROS decision on July 30 that the CEC elected on Dec 15 was invalid.
The DAP initially protested but eventually fixed Sunday for re-election under protest.
If the court allows Sunday meeting the DAP hopes to elect its main leadership line-up again with the top three posts going to Lim senior, his son Guan Eng and chairman Karpal Singh.
Party leaders have been campaigning for a large then normal turnout to show the RoS that everything in the DAP is above board.
An international auditor has also been picked to watch over the election.
One core issue during the re-election is whether the largely Chinese delegates would elect a Malay as a CEC member.
The leadership has let it be known that at least Zairil should be elected but whether he makes it or otherwise depends on his popularity with the grassroots and his loyalty to the party.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
