Home Minister Dato Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should not interfere with and put ideas into the head of the ROS ahead of the meeting we seek to hold with the ROS. He should remember that he (Zahid) represents our opponent in the coming General Election. He shouldn’t therefore have a hand in any decision made by the ROS which impacts upon the DAP in that election.
Even the earlier meeting held between him and ROS before the media statement was issued is questionable. We will deal with that later.
The directive of the ROS for the DAP to hold fresh re-elections has no legal effect until and unless that decision is officially communicated to the DAP.
The media statement issued by the ROS seems erroneous as it implies that DAP did not use the 2012 delegate list which involves 2576 party delegates when it did.
There are further media reports which even suggest that ROS advised the party to conduct fresh CEC polls at its National Congress but DAP ignored the advice and held the re-election at a Special Congress although this is not stated anywhere in the media statement issued by the ROS on Friday.
As far as DAP is concerned, there was no advise of any sort by the ROS for DAP to hold a National Congress at all in their letter to us dated 30.7.2013. All it said is that we were required to hold a re-election based on the 2012 delegates list in accordance with our Constitution which we did on 29.9.2013.
Many have shared their views as to what the DAP should do in light of this media statement.
I must categorically state that DAP is not afraid of holding fresh re-elections. We have no reason to be afraid. In fact, we have already held the re-election and we are scheduled to hold our next Congress early next year as well, which we will. So the question of fear to hold an election does not arise.
We ask for a meeting with ROS because to us, this really involves a matter of principle and precedent.
We do not think that one should just follow directives where there is reason to believe that the directive is flawed be it factually or otherwise. And we cannot allow this to become a dangerous precedent as it would put societies in limbo and at the mercy of the ROS in future.
The decision by the ROS at this late hour, just before an election puts us in a spot. It makes things even more difficult as time is of the essence. For 4 years, nothing. Then suddenly at the eve of an election, a media statement. This in itself may be grounds for challenge.
Nevertheless, we have said that we want to meet the ROS so that we can clarify the position and find a way to move forward. We are at the eve of a General Election and therefore other considerations must take priority over personal preferences.
So again, I repeat, the ROS must communicate it’s decision to us officially for it to have legal effect. The Home Minister should stay out of it. As soon as we receive this letter, we will ask for a meeting with the ROS and thereafter decide what next to do.
I hope the ROS will not be influenced by the Home Minister or anyone in this matter. He should meet us as soon as possible.