The Democratic Action Party voted its Central Executive Committee today. Prior to that, campaigning saw the various camps begging for grassroot support; for some, political survival depended much on being elected to the CEC. For the Malays in the DAP, there was hope that with its recent seemingly multiracial stand, the DAP would stand a better chance at having more support from the Malay voters, and hopefully having Malays elected into the CEC by the delegates would allow DAP to demand for more election seats, even to be able to contest in Malay strongholds.
Previously, the DAP’s CEC had 31 members. Of these 31, three were Indians, while the Sikhs and the Malays were represented by two people each. Today, 2,576 delegates voted. Father and son, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng, mustered 1,607 and 1,576 votes respectively, underscoring the fact that the DAP really is a “Daddy-Anak Party” (Father and Son Party). Party strongman, Karpal Singh came in third with 1,411 votes.
Anthony Loke and Vincent Wu were tied with 1,202 votes each. Tan Kok Wai is in sixth place with 1,199 votes. Karpal’s son, the other Daddy-Anak Party defining team, was in seventh place with 1,197 votes. Despite all the exposures and mileage received, Tony Pua only managed 1,162 votes putting him in the eighth place, while Selangor DAP’s Teng Chang Khim, manager to get 1,152 votes putting him in the ninth place. At the bottom of the top ten list is Fong Kui Lun who received 1,137 votes.
The one who is linked to a recipient of a State Government contract when Pakatan Rakyat came into power in Perak, Nga Kor Ming, received 1,075 votes putting him in the 11th place. Chong Chieng Jen and Chong Eng both received 1,011 and 1,006 votes respectively, putting them in the 12th and 13th places. Chieng Jen remains the only representative from the Sabah/Sarawak side. Chow Kon Yeow received 985 votes and the 14th place.
M Kulasegaran, the man who received the highest vote in DAP Perak but never got the Perak DAP Chairman post because it was given to Nga Kor Ming, was tied with Liew Chin Tong with 984 votes.
A person who was reported to have had a fall out with Lim Guan Eng, Johor’s Dr Boo Cheng Hau, is in 17th place with 958 votes. Selangor DAP Chairman Teresa Kok is in the 18th place with 925 votes while Teo Nie Ching is in the 19th place with 903 votes.
Nga Kor Ming’s cousin, Ngeh Koo Ham rounded up the top 20 with 824 votes.
Hiew King Chiew, DAP’s Member of Parliament for Kota Kinabalu, did not make it, signaling the possibility that he is out of favour with the Lims and will most probably be dropped as Sabah DAP Chairman. Another failure is Ronnie Liu, the controversial Selangor State Exco who seems to be a burden for DAP Selangor carries. Also out of the list is Prof Ramasamy, the person who last year had a public spat with strongman Karpal Singh.
The DAP quickly claimed that the CEC, the Lims in particular, had a strong backing from the delegates. However, the numbers show that Lim Sr only received 62.4 percent of total votes, while Lim Jr received 1,576 votes out of 2,576, or only 61.2 percent of total votes. In short, 1,000 delegates did not vote for Lim Guan Eng. This layman does not see this as a strong backing.
All seven Malay candidates in DAP lost badly. I know the press quoted eight but I do not consider Zairil Khir Johari bin Abdullah a Malay. The late Khir Johari was not his biological father. Anyway, branding himself a Malay and chosen as Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary, and like his boss, did not get him any strong support. Zairil, or whatever his name was, before Khir Johari married his mother in 1996 when he was seven or eight, only managed to secure 305 votes.
The other Malay DAP candidates scored even worse: Zulkifli Mohd Noor from Penang, who has tried for the past 25 years to get into the CEC, received 216 votes; Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji from Pahang received 121 votes; Solaiman Op Syed Ibrahim of Perak received 98; Roseli Abd Ghani received 39; Harun Ahmad received only 28. Only Senator Ariffin SM Omar and Johor DAP Vice-Chairman Ahmad Ton scored higher than Zairil, receiving 748 and 347 votes respectively.
Zulkifli was clearly peeved.
“When we say ‘Malaysian Malaysia,’ we must represent all religions, all races…balance. The message I conveyed did not reached the grassroots. They are still choosing leaders based on race,” he told Bernama.
He said that the election was also not based on ability and experience of the candidates in fighting for the party.
“There is no change. The results is a setback for Malay candidates. Perhaps the top leaders who contested want to take care of their own interests, not the party’s interests.”
This means that the Indian community now only has 1/3 representation compared to what they used to have in the previous CEC, while majority of the DAP delegates gave a strong signal to its Malay members as to who is King in the DAP.
And it certainly isn’t Mr Singh. And it certainly isn’t a multi-racial party.
UPDATED 16TH DEC 2012 – 1515 HOURS
The DAP has apparently appointed two “Malays” to the CEC to appease or maybe to fulfill their idea of the Malaysian Malaysia concept. Senator Ariffin SM Omar and Zairil Khir Johari bin Ablululah have been appointed to the CEC – these two are supposed to represent and mirror the composition of the Malays in Malaysia. Unfortunately, there are more than 50 percent Malays in Malaysia.
Like I mentioned above, Zairil is not a Malay, but a full-blown born Chinese with a Malay name, and therefore cannot be considered as a Malay-representative in the CEC. Therefore, reality sees only one Malay in the current CEC compared to two in the previous one. He was not born to parents who professed to be Muslims, and I doubt they spoke or lived as Malays when he was born. Therefore, Zairil does not fulfill the requirements of Article 160 of the Federal Constitution to be categorised as a Malay.
As for Zulkifli Mohd Noor, he can keep on trying to get into the CEC another 25 years.
Long live Malaysian Malaysia. *BARF*
SeaDemon Says 