ROS LETTER BRINGS KIT SIANG TO TEARS

By : KOH JUN LIN

“I must confess that I have shed tears.” That was DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang's response on how he felt about the prospect of not being able to contest under the "rocket" logo for the first time in his political career.

"That is how deeply I feel about it," he added.

The Registrar of Societies (ROS) has sent DAP a letter yesterday evening informing the party that the current central executive committee (CEC) was not recognised, pending a probe on a "technical glitch" over its election results.

This meant that authorisation letters to use the party logo by the party secretary-general to candidates for nomination day, were invalid.

Although the ROS and the Election Commission (EC) assured that this was not the case, the party is not taking chances and demanded that the ROS retract the letter first.

Unless the letter is revoked by 3pm tomorrow, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said that the party would be be using PAS' logo in Peninsula Malaysia and PKR's logo in Sabah and Sarawak.

Guan Eng said the deadline was chosen in view of the time needed to make necessary logistic arrangements for nomination day.

Big risk involved

He maintained that as long as the letter is in force, he is powerless as secretary-general to issue DAP candidates with the necessary documents that enable them to contest under the party’s own "rocket" banner.

“Whatever it is, that letter still remains and that is why we say that if, at all, any action is taken, we demand that the ROS retract the letter.

“That is the step that the ROS must take to show that it is sincere when it says that DAP can use the ‘rocket’ logo for this election,” he said.

Kit Siang added that any report via the press is unacceptable, fearing that the ROS may deny the report afterwards.

To a question, Kit Siang acknowledged that the plan to use PAS’ banner in the peninsula is risky for the party, as it may drive away some Chinese Malaysian voters.

“It is a high-risk decision and we are worried, but we are forced into it so we have to take the risk,” he said.

Because of this, DAP would have to explain the issue to voters and convince them that a vote for PAS is equal to a vote for DAP.

Meanwhile, Guan Eng noted that there has been an outpour of angry messages of anger, and again appealed for calm.

“The DAP CEC urges all party leaders, members, and supporters to be calm and let the anger of such disgraceful, underhand tactics be reflected strongly in the ballot box on May 5, 2013,” he said, referring to the polling date. (MKINI)