KOTA KINABALU: LDP will go forward into a new horizon from the very first day of 2014 by starting a new exercise to reconstruct the various party divisions in the state by registering the members again, and at the same time recruit new members, said Datuk VK Liew when officiating at the service center of Karamunting assemblyman Charlie O Pang, and LDP Sandakan Regional Office at Sabah Building in Sandakan.
“The exercise is necessary in view of the facts that many members had passed away since its inception in 1989, and some have migrated or left the party, while there are some who had returned after leaving the party. There are also some whose membership cannot be verified and we therefore need to clean out the membership roll,” said Liew.
“The restructuring exercise commences immediately and will be undertaken by the organizing secretary Micheal Lee Hin Huat and his sub-committee. It is hoped that it will be completed in about three months from now.
“It is also necessitated by the fact that certain membership files and information have been ‘hijacked’ and “manipulated” by certain irresponsible people who had illegally occupied the party’s headquarter recently,” Liew claimed.
“This has disabled the LDP election committee from conducting the party election. Notwithstanding this problem, the ROS has been notified of the difficulties faced by the election committee and the party election has now been rescheduled to sometime in April,” he said.
Liew said the organising secretary will distribute membership forms to all the party divisions and all existing members are urged to fill in the forms and return to the organising secretary who will issue receipts to the members.
All new members who are interested to join the party are welcome and can obtain the membership forms from the LDP office, the organising secretary and the secretary general, he said.
“It is time that we move forward and resolve to ensure we continue to be united under one flagship despite the many challenges we faced in 2013.
“No doubt, many of the members are anxious to know about the current status of the party. It is important that we understand the position of the law concerning a leadership tussle in a political party. And the law has been clearly stated by the federal court recently where it was held that the role of the ROS in a dispute in a political party is one of “non-interference”.
“This means the ROS is excluded from inquiring into the various legal issues concerning a political party leadership disputes. ROS is not empowered to look into the questions of law as they are not a judicial body and has no business to determine on the legitimacy of the various issues facing a political party.
“Therefore, it is highly unlikely that ROS will want to declare which fraction in a dispute is legitimate or otherwise. If ROS is to issue any such directive in writing, they can expect to face a multiple suit in the court of law from me,” said Liew.
“This is because ROS has no legal jurisdiction to deal with the legitimacy of a claim in a political dispute. Their role under the law is merely to determine if there is a dispute as to the identity of the office bearers of a political party and once they are satisfied with such existence, they will have to call both parties to resolve the problem within a specific time, failing which ROS is empowered to de-register the party,” he said.
“Therefore, once we understand the law, then we know that certain people are lying or do not understand the law when they say that ROS will issue a letter to determine who is legitimate in the current leadership dispute in LDP. Their actions in continuing spreading lies reflect their ignorance of the laws.”
Present at the function included Merotai assemblyman and Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Pang Yuk Ming, Karamunting assemblyman Charles O Pang Su Pin, members of the supreme council, divisional heads and about a hundred members from the six divisions in Sandakan.
In his speech, Datuk Pang Yuk Ming also urged the members to remain steadfast and hold on to their principles.
“Do not be swayed by the sweet talking of certain people who are only interested to serve their own interest. I am committed to continue my struggle with Datuk VK Liew, who, to me is the legitimate president of LDP.
“I also have the opportunity to read the case concerning SNAP in Sarawak. This was a federal court case with five federal court judges presiding and they had ruled that ROS’ role in a political dispute was limited to that as an intermediary and not to poke its nose into the various legal arguments of the disputing parties. Their role is limited and they will not interfere with the decision making of the political parties or of the person authorized under it,” said Pang.