Family politics in Penang DAP polls

From left: Jagdeep Singh Deo, Phee Boon Poh and Lim Hui Ying.

SOME see what is unfolding in Penang DAP as dynastic politics, others say it is a fight among family members.

Personalities from three political families are among those competing for a seat in the party’s state leadership line-up this Sunday (March 21).

Penang is DAP’s flagship state, its jewel in the crown, and the state leaders cannot afford to lose face like what happened in Perak last weekend.

The stakes are enormously high. Winning a party post is akin to a golden ticket to contest the general election and after that, a post in the state government.

There have been “unity dinners” almost every night to touch base with the delegates, lots of text messaging campaigning and even a poison pen letter or two flying around.

A total of 44 candidates are vying for 15 committee slots and because of DAP’s huge success in the last general election (GE14), almost all the candidates are YBs, state exco members and, of course, there is the Chief Minister, Chow Kon Yeow, who is the incumbent state chairman.

The DAP election system involves electing 15 committee members who then elect the office-bearers among themselves and appoint another five members.

The sons of the late Karpal Singh, state exco member Jagdeep Singh Deo and Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh are among the famous names vying for seats.

Karpal was posthumously conferred the title of Datuk Seri Utama on Wednesday but the offsprings are still struggling to fill the shoes of their awesome father.

The influential Phee brothers are also defending their place in the lineup.

State exco member Phee Boon Poh, known as “peh mor” because of his all-silver hair, and his younger brother Boon Chee had come in at No 5 and No 15 in the 2018 party polls.

The pair are a force on the Seberang Perai side where they have a political network that goes back to the years when DAP was in the political wilderness.

But the rising star of the family cluster is Senator Lim Hui Ying who is the state party secretary and daughter of Lim Kit Siang.

She has become a powerful operative who is known to call the shots on party matters and even on appointments although some say that members toe her line because they see her as the voice of her secretary-general brother Lim Guan Eng.

Some suggest that her clout in Penang DAP has sometimes overwhelmed even the Chief Minister.

She is hardworking, although, like her brother, she lacks the personal charm that draws genuine support. But, as they say, it is better to be feared than to be loved in politics.

Hui Ying, who said to be the apple of her father’s eye, made her debut in the 2018 state polls, sailing in at an impressive No 4.

But she could become the lightning rod this time around for any dissatisfaction that delegates have about the dynastic politics of the Lims.

A “cai dan” or candidates list associated with Hui Ying has been in circulation. Some call it the Lim family list because it comprises people aligned to Guan Eng or Kit Siang.

Everyone on this “cai dan” is an assemblyman, MP or Senator except for the DAP Veterans Club chairman Lay Hock Peng.

Lay, in his sixties, is the most influential DAP warlord in Penang. Even Perak chairman Nga Kor Ming paid homage to Lay in his speech at the Perak convention last weekend.

Lay is the party boss in Kepala Batas which has the most number of branches in the state. He controls 80% of these 51 branches which boast about 280 delegates or votes and that explains why everyone tries to suck up to him.

Now, the Phee brothers are not in this high-powered “cai dan” although they control 70% of the branches in Bagan where Guan Eng is the MP.

They seem to be on their own this time around and there are whispers that those in the "cai dan" want the elder Phee out.

There is a third faction comprising three former YBs, Danny Law, Jeff Ooi and Ng Wei Aik. They are seen as the check-and-balance camp who want to ensure the party does not become an echo chamber of yes-men.

The group does not have the oomph! of those in the “cai dan” but it includes a young and amazing activist, Kalidas Komarawelo, whose welfare work puts many YBs to shame.

Popular candidates can easily win but if they want to be in the top five, they will need the Indian vote for that extra push.

There are some 40 all-Indian branches and they form a formidable pool of votes.

Those in the “cai dan” associated with the Lims have a head start because they were reportedly able to set up new branches, thereby, bringing in more delegates aligned to them.

Those who are not in the circle were unable to do so. This was the same complaint in Perak where those not aligned to the powerful Nga-Ngeh cousins had problems forming new branches.

However, being on an exclusive “cai dan” is no guarantee of a win.

Deputy Chief Minister Dr P. Ramasamy and then Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari lost in the last polls despite the big post and famous family name.

The pair did not get the support of Kepala Batas warlord Lay who was particularly critical of the gossip then surrounding Zairil’s private life.

However, Lao Da, as Kit Siang is known in the party, has sent out word that he wants Zairil and Ramasamy to win. Another rejection of the pair would be bad optics for the party.

But these senior names will be competing against younger and dynamic faces like Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim who is viewed as a future chief minister.

Sim, a second-term MP, is said to be eyeing a state seat in GE15 and a government post after that. If all goes well, he could be chief minister by GE16 - that is, if Jagdeep, who is equally ambitious, does not get there first.

Another rising star is Jawi assemblyman Jason H’ng who controls 80% of Nibong Tebal. H’ng lacks academic credentials but he is hardworking and has been moving around as the state organising secretary.

As the showdown looms on Sunday, will those in the "cai dan" make a clean sweep like what Nga’s team in Perak pulled off last weekend?

Or will Penang delegates strike a balance and deliver some surprises?