DAP’S ‘INDIAN REBELLION’ OR NOT – ERUPTION IN PENANG ONLY UNDERSCORES HOW DIRTY THE ‘OLD HORSES’ INCLUDING RAMASAMY & CHOW KON YEOW WILL FIGHT TO STAY INCUMBENT – BUT LOOK AT THE FUSSES KICKED UP IN VAIN BY THE LIKES OF CHARLES SANTIAGO, TENG CHANG KHIM, RONNIE LIU & BOO CHENG HAU – AND THE ‘LOOSE CANNONS’ SHOULD KNOW THE MORE DISLOYALTY THEY SHOW TO THEIR PARTY, THE MORE UNPOPULAR THEY WILL BECOME – AS TERESA KOK SAYS IT’S ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ FOR GUAN ENG TO RETURN AS PENANG CM – SO WHO’S KICKING DAP IN THE FACE OTHER THAN IT’S OWN POWER-CRAZED MEMBERS? THE LIKES OF MCA, GERAKAN, MIC, PN, PAS TOO?
‘Impossible’ for Guan Eng to return as Penang CM, says Kok
The DAP vice-chairman cites Penang’s two-term limit for the chief minister’s post.
KUALA LUMPUR: DAP vice-chairman Teresa Kok has dismissed a former party member’s claim that Lim Guan Eng is eyeing the Penang chief minister’s post, describing it as “impossible”.
Kok said Penang’s state constitution would not permit Lim to make a return as chief minister, citing the two-term limit on the top state post.
“Based on Penang’s constitution, it’s impossible,” she told FMT on the sidelines of an event here today.
The Penang assembly had passed an amendment to the state constitution in November 2018 to limit the chief ministership to two terms.
Earlier today, former Seberang Perai city councillor David Marshel claimed that Lim wanted to take over the chief minister’s post although the DAP chairman has stated his support for incumbent Chow Kon Yeow repeatedly.
FMT has reached out to Lim for comment.
Meanwhile, Kok said the victim of an acid attack in 2010 would be resuming treatment for her burns eight years after stopping treatment.
The Seputeh MP said Nurul Dahyatul Fazlinda Haizan, now 21, had received treatment until 2015 when the family decided not to continue because of the distance they had to travel as they lived in Sekayu, Terengganu.
Kok will now bear the cost of transportation for Nurul, who will travel to Premier Clinic in Bangsar here once a month for her treatment.
The cost of the treatment, estimated to be about RM20,000, would be covered by the clinic, she said.
Nurul was splashed with acid by her father on Aug 15, 2010, and suffered severe burns to her face and body. It also caused her nostrils to shrivel, thus disrupting her breathing.
The father was jailed for seven years and has since been released. FMT
Eruption over Penang’s ‘emperor’
ON the surface, the turbulence in Penang DAP looks like an Indian rebellion, but the root cause was the way the axe fell on politicians aligned to caretaker Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
Or rather, it revolves around how the “emperor” – now a trending word in Penang – imposed his will on the line-up of candidates for the Aug 12 state election.
Of the 19 DAP candidates unveiled by party secretary-general Anthony Loke on Tuesday (July 25), only one was regarded as Chow’s man.
Chow managed to save only Komtar incumbent Teh Lai Heng who was also his special officer.
The irony is that Chow is the state DAP chairman, elected by the Penang rank-and-file, and yet he seemed to have so little say about who he wanted on his team.
The line-up has left Chow, who is Batu Kawan MP and the Padang Kota incumbent, surrounded by people who were allegedly picked by the “emperor”.
He is now like an island in a choppy sea.
Disgruntled ex-assemblyman for Bagan Dalam M Satees, who launched the attack on the “emperor”, also slammed him for treating DAP like his “father’s property” and wanting to “control Penang”.
Satees has not identified the “emperor,” but everyone in Penang seems to have reached their own conclusion.
It is a daring attack on one of the most powerful figures in DAP.
Satees claimed he was dropped for supporting a good man, by whom he meant former deputy chief minister Dr P Ramasamy.
Satees is also said to be upset that Ramasamy was replaced in the Perai seat by former Eco World Development Group Bhd executive Datuk Sundarajoo Somu.
Sundarajoo would have been a big catch during the early days when DAP scrambled for candidates but the party now has a rich cache of potential YBs and parachuting in an outsider has raised eyebrows.
Moreover, the DAP policy is to groom young leaders in state seats and move them to Parliament if they show potential. Picking a retired executive – Sundarajoo is 61 – with no party track record seems contrary to the party’s policy.
But it is quite likely that the rumblings over Sundarajoo also have to do with his cosy ties with a certain top leader.
The “emperor” was also slammed as a “cancer” during the closed-door meeting that Loke and deputy secretary-general Nga Kor Ming held with those who were dropped hours before announcing the new line-up.
One of those dropped spoke his mind and told the two top leaders to rein in the “cancer” who had become a problem in Penang.
Chow himself barely survived a bold bid to replace him as chief minister earlier this month and was only saved by protests from Chinese groups amid rumours that DAP deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo was an aspirant to the post.
Although Chow has received the blessings of no less than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the opinion out there is that there will be a fresh attempt to unseat him on election night.
Ramasamy has since gone a step further, describing the situation as a purge.
He also claimed the line-up had been drawn up, pointing to a list circulating earlier this month that turned out to be a close match to the final list.
“What is the point of the DAP five-man committee at state and national levels meeting to decide on candidates when it is a fait accompli and the ‘emperor’ had already decided?” said Ramasamy.
The Chinese vernacular press is having a field day on the issue.
The best front page goes to Kwong Wah Yit Poh which plastered the pictures of all the key players accompanied by juicy quotes.
Ramasamy was quoted as saying that he will distance himself from the party and do things his way.
The newspaper quoted former chief minister Lim Guan Eng as claiming to be a Chow supporter and said it was the party that picked him to defend his Air Putih seat.
Chow was quoted as saying that renewal is part of politics and that his name would not be on the list the next term. The implication is that he will not cling on once his chief minister term is over.
Will the ripples smoothen out or will things simmer on? ANN
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