DAP leader blasts comrades for badmouthing four who quit
PETALING JAYA: A DAP leader has blasted fellow party leaders for badmouthing the four members from Malacca who resigned.
“It is highly inappropriate to say that the four DAP leaders from Malacca quit the party because they lost in the party election.
“The party election was some time ago and some among the four had been suspended for a year before quitting,” said Selangor exco man and state DAP vice-chairman Datuk Teng Chang Khim.
“It is not a sincere way to say ‘thank you’ by claiming that they left the party after losing in the election,” said Teng, the Sg Pinang state assemblyman.
He was responding to a statement by DAP central executive committee member Liew Chin Tong who had thanked the four for their past contributions, but added that the Malacca DAP leaders quit the party because they lost in the party election in December 2015.
Teng criticised Liew, saying that the latter “has also forgotten that most of them are far more senior than him in the party struggle”.
On Sunday, Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him and three state assemblymen dropped a bombshell by quitting the party.
Sim said the four quit because the DAP now had no proper direction and had deviated from its core objectives.
The other three who quit are former Malacca DAP chairman Goh Leong San (Duyong), Lim Jak Wong (Bachang) and Chin Choon Seong (Kesidang).
When asked about acting DAP national chairman Tan Kok Wai’s statement describing the four as “malignant tumours” whose departures were good for the party, Teng replied: “One may agree or disagree with Sim’s action or justification, but should never tell an untruth or be abusive to ex-comrades who had tremendously contributed to the party in the past.
“A great party must demonstrate its magnanimity in such a situation despite the disagreement.”
In Malacca yesterday, Sim responded to the “malignant tumours” allegation, saying: “If they feel that removing us four ‘ malignant tumours’ will mean the party returns to the pink of health, then I bid them good luck.”