Loke Sets Record Straight Over Rubbish Purge Claim In Johor Dap

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JOHOR POLLS | Johor DAP is finally setting its sights on the state polls after resolving an internal tussle over seat allocation that had prompted the central leadership to intervene.
The tussle, portrayed as a rivalry between Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong and rival Tan Hong Pin, the incumbent Skudai assemblyperson, has been the talk of town, particularly among DAP grassroots and the Chinese press.
The exact circumstances of the conflict, even after its resolution, had not been made public, and it had been a case of "he says, she says" and gossip, something that has irked DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke who was involved in brokering a resolution.
Loke sought to set the record straight over the issue and described some of the claims, including Liew wanting to purge Tan and his allies, as "rubbish".
Speaking to Malaysiakini in an interview in Kuala Lumpur, Loke detailed the chronology and events and also the negotiations mediated by the federal leadership.
Loke, who is part of the DAP central leadership, explained that the controversy started when Liew proposed to make changes to the arrangement of seats involving Tan and four of his allies which was taken as an attempt to finish them off.
The proposal was for Tan to be moved from his state seat of Skudai to the parliamentary seat of Labis, which he is to contest in the next general election.
Skudai assemblyperson Tan Hong Pin (left) and Johor DAP chief Liew Chin TongNg Yak Howe (Bentayan) will be fielded in Jementah while Ee Chin Li (Tangkak) and Yeo Tung Siong (Pekan Nanas) will defend their seats.
"Liew has been very frank to party central leadership that he wants to make some changes, especially for Tan who he wants to move to the Labis parliamentary seat from Skudai.
"(But) Liew never had the intention to drop him altogether, despite Hong Pin being his challenger in the last party election. He wanted Hong Pin to contest in a parliament seat instead of a state.
"Besides moving Hong Pin from Skudai to Labis, Liew made it clear that the DAP state committee only wanted to drop one person from the five incumbents - which is Cheo Yee How (Perling)," he said.
Rumour mill overdrive
The former transport minister said that Liew's plan did not sit well with Tan and his group when it was conveyed to them on Jan 28.
Loke said rumours began swirling that all five of them would be dropped.
"News reports, especially in the Chinese dailies, said this is because Tan was a challenger to Liew, and that he had gotten the green light from the DAP central executive committee to drop the five.
"That is completely rubbish and not true," Loke said.
Tan, Loke said, had expressed that the reshuffle was not something they could accept and requested time to consider.
Johor then saw protests breaking out among supporters of Tan and the group of five against the purported plan to drop them.
Loke said this led to a meeting between the leaderships of the central DAP and its Johor chapter on Feb 6.
DAP national organising secretary Anthony LokeThe Seremban MP, who was involved in the meeting, said discussions were opened on the possibility of amending Liew's plan.
"There were some serious discussions for over three hours. And at the end of that meeting, some changes were decided," he said.
Loke said a decision was made not to move Ee, Ng and Yeo and to retain them in their old seats.
However, he said Tan was still expected to move to the parliamentary seat of Labis while Cheo was still to be dropped.
Tan's group wanted 'all or none'
Loke then organised another meeting with Tan's faction on Feb 7, this time at the Seremban MP's office in Negeri Sembilan, to convey the amended proposal to them.
The national organising secretary said he had a long discussion with the five who eventually conveyed their message that they won't contest in the Johor polls if any of them is dropped.
"At the end of the discussion, all five were actually disappointed with the decision. Then, they told me in a very calm manner that they offered not to contest in the election at all.
"The group made it clear that they were not doing it as a way of threatening the party and promised that they will never quit DAP even though they are not happy.
"But since one of them cannot contest, so all five will not contest at all," he said.
Although disappointed with their decision, Loke then took the group's message higher up the chain of command, which prompted party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to set a meeting between DAP's top leaders and Tan's faction.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan EngIn the Feb 9 meeting, the group repeated their decision to the party, saying that they are prepared not to contest if that is what it takes to solve the problem in DAP Johor.
This was when Tan's group came up with a counter-proposal. The proposed for Tan to be dropped from contesting any seat, including at the Parliament level in exchange for Cheo to be retained.
"So Hong Pin sacrificed himself, doesn't want to be considered (as a candidate), not even at the Parliament level.
"But of course, he wanted Cheo to be nominated again, not in Perling but in Jementah, while the other three are to defend their respective seats," Loke said.
The leadership then took their counter-proposal for another round of discussion with the Johor DAP state leadership led by Liew, who asked for two days to make a decision.
On Feb 11, the state leadership wrote an official letter to the DAP headquarters saying that they do not accept the offer (for Tan to be dropped in exchange for Cheo), saying that moving Cheo to contest Jementah will not be feasible for the party towards winning the election.
They also believe that Jementah needs to be contested by a local, instead of Cheo, who hails from Johor Bahru.
'No threats made'
Loke said he was then asked again to mediate with Tan's group, where he urged them to seriously consider accepting the Feb 6 proposal where Tan is to contest in Labis, Cheo to be dropped and the status quo for the other three is maintained.
"So I was told that they had a long discussion among the five of them on Feb 12, and eventually came to a conclusion to accept the decision.
"Subsequently, they issued a statement on Feb 14. So that is the position and the chronology of what happened," he said.
Loke said he wanted to diffuse some rumours and misinformation that had come out from the clash.
He said there had been allegations of both sides issuing threats which he said are not true.
"I want to put this out and clear the air, to state the facts correctly. I want to stress that throughout the process, nobody, no one from both sides, threatened the party's leadership.
"There was no such thing as threatening the party, neither from Liew Chin Tong nor Tan Hong Pin.
"It is completely untrue to say any leader threatened the party if their way was not followed by party leadership," he said.
Johoreans will go to the polls on March 12. The nomination day is set for Feb 26. - Mkini

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