DAP Bagan Luar branch chairman G. Asoghan showing his letter of termination signed by DAP disciplinary committee chairman Tan Kok Wai.Former Teratai assemblyman Jenice Lee says she will seek legal redress over attempts by DAP officials to sack her
Without RoS recognition, they claim that disciplinary committee has no power to fire them
GEORGE TOWN: FORMER Teratai assemblyman Jenice Lee yesterday said she will seek legal redress on any attempts by DAP officials to terminate her party membership.
Lee said the announcement by DAP disciplinary committee chairman Tan Kok Wai on April 20 that she had been sacked for contesting in the 13th General Election as an independent candidate was null and void because Tan's position was not recognised by the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
"It is my belief that the letter signed by the purported disciplinary chairman is null and void as his position is not recognised because of the alleged party Central Executive Committee election irregularities raised by 753 DAP delegates," she told a press conference yesterday.
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Lee said, therefore, she and others who contested as independents were still DAP members.
"I didn't know about my sacking until I read the papers," she said.
Lee also called for RoS to not de-register the party and urged the government body to push for a party re-election allowing all 2,576 party delegates to attend and vote.
Lee had contested as an independent candidate but lost to DAP councillor for Petaling Jaya City Council Tiew Way Keng, who won with a majority of 21,746.
"In light of RoS' position on the legality of the CEC, Lim Guan Eng is just an ordinary DAP member and not the secretary-general of the party, and Tan is not the chairman of the disciplinary committee until a fresh party re-election is held," she said, adding that all the DAP members should be currently considered to be the same rank.
"We are all DAP ordinary members and I still love the party and am devoted to its cause."
Tan declined to comment when contacted.
In Butterworth, DAP Bagan Luar branch chairman G. Asoghan said the termination letter issued to him by the party was also null and void.
"It was signed by party disciplinary committee chairman Tan Kok Wai.
"Who is he to sack me when the party leadership is not recognised? And the letter, dated April 23, was only delivered to my home last Friday through normal post.
"I would like to stress here that Lim, Tan and the other leaders are just regular members, pending the RoS investigation. In fact, the top leadership is already considered illegitimate," he told a press conference here yesterday.
Asoghan, 56, said he was still a DAP member and would retain his position as the branch's chairman.
"I am also a party delegate who is eligible to participate in the party's election. I have been with the party since 1990 and served under one of the party's founders, P. Patto, as his assistant. I am staying put."
In the termination letter from the party's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Asoghan was found to have contravened party laws by going against the objective "of ensuring straight fight with Barisan Nasional", when he contested as an independent in the Bagan Dalam state seat here.
On April 17, the RoS had sent a note to Lim saying that the validity of the CEC's status was in question after irregularities were spotted during the party elections last year.
The RoS highlighted two grounds: first was the issue raised by 753 party members who complained of being denied their rights to attend the congress as delegates.
The second was the CEC election technical glitch which caused party activist Vincent Wu to be moved to the 26th spot from his original sixth spot, giving way to Zairil Abdullah, who was originally in the 39th position, to move to the 20th.
