With Kula away, Perak DAP choose nothing to say

Kulasegaran threatened to quit as the state’s DAP chairman over an apparent power tussle in the party. — file pic

IPOH, Oct 3 — Perak DAP leaders have agreed to a gag order on its leadership crisis, pending the return of their deputy chairman M. Kulasegaran from his week-long sojourn in Nepal.

In a joint press statement this morning, state party chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and vice-chairman A. Sivanesan stressed that the leadership quarrel should be resolved internally.

The duo further claimed that this decision was mooted by the party’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng during his discussion with Ngeh.

“Lim, who was away for an official trip to Australia, spoke to Ngeh upon his return at the Penang International Airport.

“We agreed with Lim’s suggestion that matters involving Perak DAP should be handled internally.

“Thereby we will not be making any public statements or answer press queries on this issue,” Ngeh (right) and Sivanesan said in the statement.

They added that party leaders would await Kulasegaran’s return from Nepal before making any further decision on the matter.

“We will also wait for Lim to convene a meeting, which shall also be attended by (DAP advisor) Lim Kit Siang,” they concluded.

Perak DAP was plunged into crisis on Friday night when a special leadership meeting aimed at promoting unity ended on an ugly note, with Kulasegaran threatening resignation.

Although the Ipoh Barat MP has since indicated he would likely not follow through with his threat, his outburst through microblogging site Twitter has left his colleagues with a bitter aftertaste.

Ngeh, in his attempt to diffuse the situation, yesterday reprimanded Kulasegaran for washing the party’s dirty linen in public when he publicised his quit threat on Twitter.

The former senior state executive councillor also played down the allegations levelled against himself and his cousin Nga Kor Ming (left), both of whom have been blamed as the protagonists behind Kulasegaran’s outburst.

For months, trouble has been brewing in the higher echelons of the Perak DAP, in the wake of the impending party elections set for November 14.

The bickering between the two camps — Kulasegaran’s and the Ngeh-Nga camp — grew worse when both sides began to quarrel over the formation of new branches in the state.

On the one hand, Kulasegaran and his men have accused Ngeh and Nga of forming over 100 new branches without attaining endorsement from the state committee, while on the other, the cousins have charged that their arch rivals had been illegally reviving old branches to shore up support for themselves.

In an effort to soothe over the incessant bickering between the two feuding factions, a peace-making effort was mooted some three months back.

Friday’s meeting was held to discuss and resolve certain issues that had risen in recent weeks, including the existence of a circulating letter that Kulasegaran’s men are claiming had the ill-intention to damage his popularity.

When talks failed to promote a settlement, an angry Kulasegaran stormed out of the meeting, dangling a threat that he would leave the state committee.

Since then, Kulasegaran has also challenged Ngeh to an open debate on their grouses, throwing the Perak DAP into further chaos.

Ngeh and Nga, both of whom are MPs and state assemblymen as well as former state administrators when Pakatan Rakyat helmed Perak, have often been accused of being overzealous and dictatorial in their leadership.

Despite this, the duo have chosen not to go to the press with their denials or to rebut the accusations, insisting that such matters should be resolved via consensus and within the party leadership.

They have urged members to look at the bigger picture at hand, which was to prepare themselves to regain power in Perak in the next general election.