DAP chairman Karpal Singh today welcomed the Registrar of Societies (RoS)’s statement that the party may not be punished for a vote-counting glitch in the party’s own elections last December.
“I welcome the statement by the Registrar of Societies, Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman, that the DAP may not be necessarily be penalised for its party election glitch as the RoS did not intend to deregister the party,” Karpal wrote in a three-paragraph statement today.
“The DAP will give the Registrar of Societes every cooperation in its investigation into the complaints made over the legality of the recent election of the CEC. No doubt, there must be closure to this matter as soon as possible,” the Bukit Gelugor MP said.
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Abdul Rahman, the RoS director-general, was reported by The Star today to have said that the body had no intention to deregister DAP as alleged.
The weekend edition of another English-language daily, the New Sunday Times (NST), today quoted him as saying that the RoS “were portrayed unfairly on the issue.”
“We want the party members and supporters to stop spreading the news that we are going to de-register them because nothing has been decided yet,”
He was referring to an April 17 letter issued by RoS, where the DAP was informed that its central executive committee (CEC) elected in December was not valid, leading to a controversy over the party’s status just a few days before the April 20 nomination day.
But Abdul Rahman said the letter did not stop DAP from taking part in elections, with the previous CEC still having the authority to appoint candidates.
“So, that was why there was technically no problem for its secretary-general (who was also in the previous line-up) to appoint candidates during the recent election nor were they prevented from using their party logo,” he was quoted saying by NST.
On April 20, DAP candidates had in the end contested using the party’s logo, after the RoS assured DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng that the candidates’ validity would not be affected.
Karpal today welcomed Abdul Rahman’s clarification on why DAP candidates were allowed to use the party’s rocket symbol in last week’s polls.
“I hope this clarification by the Registrar of Societies will put an end to persistent and uncalled for calls by various quarters that the use of the rocket symbol in the general elections had nullified the elections of all successful DAP candidates,” Karpal said.
