DAP leaders will go down to the ground to explain to members and supporters the rationale behind their decision to hold fresh party elections.
Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng announced this in a statement today, adding that the tour will begin after the 2008-2011 Central Executive Committee (CEC) meets coming Thursday.
Lim reiterated that the decision to hold new polls to elect the CEC was made so that the Registrar of Societies (RoS) would not have any reason to de-register the party.
"The bitter and painful decision made by party leaders in an emergency meeting of the 2012-2015 CEC on Wednesday night to hold re-elections was solely to prevent RoS from being given another opportunity to abuse their powers by de-registering the party.
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"DAP leaders have taken the difficult, painful and unpalatable decision to face the reality of the brutality of RoS' abuse of power and refused to be deluded by any hope that the body still respects the rule of law,” Lim said.
He said the party could not take chances by challenging RoS' order in court.
"Despite the likely outcome of winning again in court, the legal process and time taken will put any political party that has been de-registered by RoS in limbo. This will threaten the party’s survival and growth," he added.
The decision was made after months of speculation and accusations of vote-rigging and irregularities during its elections held in December.
On July 30, RoS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman ordered DAP to hold a CEC re-election after he was not satisfied with the explanation given by the party on the issue of manipulation of votes.
This is following complaints by several disgruntled members, who claimed the CEC election was not properly conducted after the party announced that a glitch in the tabulation had resulted in the wrong candidate being elected to the CEC.
Later, a booklet called "The Equity Report (CEC Election Fraud)" on the alleged irregularities and internal politics in the DAP polls, written by a Father Augustus Chen, was also widely distributed in Penang.
DAP has denied the accusations and claimed "Father Augustus Chen" was a fictitious character conjured up by Umno to discredit the opposition party.
"Instead of all facts and information supplied by the DAP that were verified by an accounting firm, RoS appears to believe the unsubstantiated lies of a non-existent person, Utusan Malaysia and the New Straits Times that 753 DAP delegates had been denied their right to attend the DAP Congress in Penang or that there were 547 'phantom delegates' attending the Congress," said Lim.
Accusing the RoS of practising double standards, he pointed out the the body had not intervened in the controversial SUPP party elections in 2011 as it did with the DAP polls.
Lim said the fact Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had announced that the party had been directed to hold fresh party elections before the RoS themselves had informed DAP, was proof that the body was acting on orders from the Barisan Nasional.
"It is a clear indication that the RoS is neither an independent nor an impartial authority but acting solely under the political dictates of BN."
The ruling coalition, he said, have been out to draw blood from the DAP since the latter had made history by winning its largest-ever number of parliamentary seats (38) and state seats (107).
"As a minority government, BN has shown that it has no qualms in either acting unlawfully or practising double-standards," he said, referring to PR winning 51% of the popular vote.
