Sivanesan accepts offer to be Perak DAP vice-chairman

SUNGKAI: Sungkai assemblyman A. Sivane­san, who lost in the Perak DAP polls last week, has accepted the offer by the state leadership to be co-opted into the new state committee as vice-chairman,

“It is my choice and I have decided without being dictated by any party,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Sivanesan, along with former state deputy leader M. Kulasegaran and assemblymen Thomas Su (Pasir Pinji) and Seah Leong Peng (Pasir Berdamar), had lost in the party polls on Sunday.

They were in the faction that opposed the group led by state party chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham. The only one from Kulase-garan faction elected to the committee was Jalong assembleman Leong Mee Meng.

Ngeh has since invited both Kulasegaran, who is Ipoh Barat MP, and Sivanesan to join the committee.

Kulasegaran, however, had said on Thurs­day he was not accepting Ngeh’s offer.

Asked if his decision would mean he was now siding with Ngeh’s camp, Sivanesan claimed: “Right from the beginning, I was not aligned to either side.”

“I do not want to be seen as tilting towards one side as I knew both leaders,” he added.

Sivanesan said his decision came after meeting with party members and leaders from around the country.

Sivanesan said he had spoken to Kulasegaran. “He told me it was my choice.”

Sivanesan added that the Indian community had high hopes and thought both Kulasegaran and he would win in the party election.

“With both of us losing, they got upset and felt that there would be no voice for the Indian community,” he said.

Sivanesan said he had a good track record of serving the party and would stand on his own.