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Media Conference
by Loke Siew Fook  
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(Seremban, Thursday) : The DAP Negeri Sembilan state committee held an emergency meeting yesterday at our state headquarters to discuss the issue of Bahau state assemblyman Lim Fui Ming quitting the party. The meeting was attended by all state committee members with the presence of DAP Secretary General Sdr. Lim Guan Eng and National Organizing Secretary Sdr. Tan Kok Wai. The meeting lasted more than one and the half hours and after much deliberation, the state committee resolved to issue an official statement as of below:

Unjustified reasons to leave the party

Lim Fui Ming claimed that he quit the party because he felt that party members had isolated him since he joined the DAP in 1988 after leaving the MCA and that he was lacking of support in the party. He further claimed that he was sidelined and oppressed in the party in the last 18 years and that he had suffered enough and quit the party now.

The first question in my mind was if he had really suffered in the party all these years, why did he not quit earlier when he was not an elected reps and only chose to quit the party now when he is a serving state assemblyman and fully aware of the negative implications to the party with the general election approaching? Isn't this question enough to raise doubts about his real motives and agendas to quit the DAP now?

He also claimed that as a state assemblyman, he did not garner high votes in the state party election for office bearers in the last two state conventions. Let me state that as DAP is a democratic party, it did not automatically guaranteed any elected reps with high votes in party elections. In any event, he fared quite convincingly in the last two state conventions and it was totally not true that he was third lowest in 2004 and second lowest in 2006 among the candidates vying for a post in the state committee.

The real facts are he garnered 79 votes out of 97 in 2004 and that placed him at the rank of 11 out of 23 candidates. In the party polls, the top 15 candidates with the highest votes are elected into the committee. If that translate into percentage, that is 81.4% of support!

In 2006 state convention, he garnered 93 votes out of the 126 valid votes at the 9th position among the 29 candidates. That is 74% support! Will any politician complain with an above 70% support? He misled the public as what he claimed only take into considerations among the Chinese state committee members in the line-up. The DAP do not condone such racial practices that divides the ranking among Chinese and non-Chinese committee members.

He also claimed that he was sent to Bahau as a "political ash" in 2004 general election. It is unfair for Lim to make such an allegation after he won the seat. In actual fact, Bahau was one of the winnable seats for the DAP in the run-up to the 2004 general election because of the multiple local issues that was burning especially among the Chinese community and the unpopularity of the MCA state assemblyman. Lim Fui Ming was considered as the party felt that he was suitable as he fought there before in 1995 and the fact that he was hailed from Bahau although he resides in Seremban now. The party actually offered him to stand either in Bahau state seat or Seremban parliamentary seat. He was happy and excited to take up the Bahau state seat as he felt that the chances were higher in Bahau.

Despite he being inactive in the party a few years prior to the general election, he was still given the green light by the party as the party felt that we should have a mix of old and young candidates in our overall line-up to strengthen our positions. It is certainly not true that no one in the party dare to fight Bahau as the DAP had won in Bahau twice consecutively in the 1986 and 1990 general election. He should be thankful to the party for enabling him to become a Yang Berhormat. While we don't expect Lim Fui Ming to be grateful to the party, he should at least be honest to tell the truth to the public.

Challenge Lim Fui Ming to resign as a State Assemblyman

The state committee also resolved to openly challenge Lim Fui Ming to relinquish his position as the Bahau state assemblyman as he won the seat as a DAP candidate. If he wants to quit the party, then he should leave the position of state assemblyman behind. He must immediately resign and pave way for a by-election if he is a man with principles. Furthermore, he claimed that he won the seat not because he was a DAP candidate but because he is Lim Fui Ming. If that is so, he should take up the challenge to resign and contest in the by-election as an independent to enable the Bahau constituents to make the final decision.

DAP to set up service center in Bahau

The state committee resolved to set up a DAP service center in Bahau and to reactivate all DAP branches in Bahau as we consider Bahau is still a DAP constituency. The state committee will set up a sub-committee to overlook the work for the constituency and we vowed to continue to serve and fight for the voters of Bahau. We will definitely defend Bahau in the next general election and turn it as a fortress of the DAP.

No repeat of 1996 history

Let me state clearly and loudly to the Barisan Nasional and in particular MCA that if they wish to see the repeat of the 1996 episode where both the then DAP assemblyman defected to MCA and paved way for a "zero opposition" in Negeri Sembilan, then I will definitely disappoint them. I vowed to continue to fight although I am now the sole flag-bearer for the DAP in the NS state assembly until the next general election and fully aware of the tough roads ahead.

Note to editor: DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng did not go to Bahau on 10th January 2007 to try to persuade Lim Fui Ming to retract his resignation as reported in certain press. He merely said that he will try to understand from Lim Fui Ming why he quit the party. Please clarify to your readers. Thank you.

(11/1/2007)