By the Administrator
Is Karpal the real Godfather in DAP as lambasted by the angry Prof. Dr Ramasamy, the 2nd Deputy Chief Minister of Penang ?
Many do not believe so, and they include former DAP leader and like Kua Kia Soong (former Petaling Jaya Utara MP, current Suaram director), and Wee Choo Keong ( inpedendent MPof Bukit Bintang), both complained of their painful sufferings in their life-experience while serving the DAP.
Although he declined to be interviewed by www.freemalaysiatoday.com, Kua (pic below) requested that he be quoted from his book “Inside The DAP” published in 1995 which is “still relevant to this day”.
Kua who left DAP in 1995 said that his five-year experience in the party revealed that none of the top DAP leaders including the then secretary-general (SG), Lim Kit Siang, had any inclination to have a social democratic party programme as an alternative to Barisan Nasional.
He was especially critical of Lim whom he portrayed as wielding absolute power over the party and its leaders.
“The Secretary General or SG (Lim) is considered “indispensable” by the party leaders,” Kua wrote.
“He has become synonymous with the DAP through concentration of power and authority in his position.
“The SG (Lim) didn’t seem to be able to settle simple questions of doubt cast in the media, such as the question of the ‘father and son’ syndrome in the DAP.”
Kua went on to call the “frozen oppressive atmosphere” of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) as “unbearable and demeaning” in the presence of the SG (Lim) and labelled his loyalists as “sycophants” and “tiresome emperor’s apologists”.
“Despite leadership problems there were no serious attempts by the SG (Lim) or CEC to address the problem of party renewal and preparation for leadership changeover or collective leadership,” he wrote.
“The important CEC posts of Discipline, Publicity and Organising Secretaries were filled by secretaries beholden to the SG (Lim).”
“No factional problems were decisively solved in a democratic way within the CEC, only the SG (Lim) held all the cards.
“The SG’s (Lim) inordinate power rests in his final say in the selection of candidates for the general elections.”
Lim has since moved up the ladder to the post of DAP advisor but former DAP Bukit Bintang MP, Wee Choo Keong, pointed out that he has taken his fist of power with him. Lim’s younger son Guan Eng is now the SG and the Chief Minister of Penang after the last general elections.
The current independent Wangsa Maju MP was ejected from DAP in 1998 for allegedly not showing “love and affection to the party leader”. He was SG of Social Democratic Party at the time when he contested under the ticket of PKR in the last round. He declared to be an independent MP after openly expressing his dissents with the leadership.
Meanwhile, Karpal has openly pressured Ramasamy to resign as the 2nd Deputy Chief Minister of Penang for openly criticising the party and alleging cronyism and abuse of power of a pecuniary nature. But after Karpal challenged him to report to the MACC to prove his allegations, Ramasamy denied that he had made such allegations.
Poor Ramasamy (coined by Karpal as a DAP warlord), an academician retiring from Singapore and turned politician for the last 3 years or so, whose rapid rise as an honourable Indian community leader in DAP have already caused much jealousy and uneasiness from his rivals, especially those who are on the cue of the political ladder. But could the real Godfather behind the scene save him from the boot this time?