KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Datuk VK Liew has appointed the party’s new office bearers following his mass dismissal of 27 of its supreme council members on August 30.
According to newly appointed secretary-general Loretto S Padua Jr, Liew had appointed Charles Pang as the new treasurer-general, Yap Man Kun as the new chief publicity officer and Michael Lee Hing Huat the organizing secretary.
They, together with three other members, Lee Chiew Hwa, Michael David Tsen and Christopher Lee, were appointed by the LDP president to sit in the presidential council meeting which was held on Sept 1 in Sandakan.
Lee, Michael and Christopher’s appointments were at the president’s absolute discretion as provided under the party’s constitution and in total, eight out of the 16 presidential council members were present when the meeting begun at noon.
Loretto said this in a statement yesterday. In the statement he also clarified certain issues for the benefit of the members and the general public about the dismissals and appointments of LDP office bearers.
He provided the chronology of events last week where on August 30, Liew terminated the appointment of the office bearers in the LDP supreme council, namely deputy secretary-general Ho Jia Lit, treasurer-general Ken Fong, deputy-treasurer Albert Ngan, chief publicity officer Albert Kok, and organizing secretary Yong Wui Chong.
“I have in my record the letters of termination duly signed by the president. I understand from the executive office that the letters of termination were subsequently delivered to them. On the same day i.e. August 30, the president had appointed the following to fill up the vacancies of the office bearers: Mike Tham En Fui (deputy secretary-general), Charles Pang (treasurer-general), Peter Liew (deputy treasurer-general), Yap Mah Kun (chief publicity officer) and Michael Lee Hing Huat (organizing secretary).
“The appointment takes effect immediately. I have in my record the letters of appointment of the new office bearers dated August 30,” he said.
According to Loretto the party’s constitution made it very clear that the president had the absolute power to appoint these office bearers without having to consult the supreme council.
“It goes without saying that the president also has the implied power to dismiss these office bearers at his absolute discretion without having to consult the supreme council. In fact, under the party’s constitution, there is no requirement to give them a letter of termination,” he said.
It was done, he believes, for the purpose of record and as a matter of courtesy.
“Earlier on August 27, as you are aware, the president had relieved Datuk Teo Chee Kang from his post as party secretary. All the dismissals and the subsequent appointments of office bearers were done within the ambit of the party’s constitution,” he said.
He also disclosed that under the party’s constitution, the presidential council consisted of the president, deputy-president, seven vice-presidents, the secretary-general, the treasurer-general, the chief publicity officer, the organizing secretary and three members to be appointed by the president himself at his absolute discretion.
On the presidential meeting on Sept 1, Loretto said the provision in the constitution stated that notice must be sent to the members of the presidential council and in this case he was aware that the notice was sent by email to all the members of the presidential council.
“It goes without saying that those office bearers, namely Ken Fong, Albert Kok and Yong Wui Chung would not received any notice of the presidential council meeting as they were already duly dismissed a day earlier,” he pointed out.
According to Loretto, the party’s executive office informed him that the notice for the presidential council meeting was sent out around noon on Friday August 30, to the now suspended deputy president and the seven vice-presidents (VPs) by email.
He said one of the VPs responded within two hours by phone, saying that he was informed by the suspended deputy president that there would be a presidential council meeting the next day and asked him if he would attend.
This particular VP told the office that he would not attend as he had other commitments, Loretto said, adding that another VP called the executive secretary the next day, just before the meeting started, that he would not be able to make it and his regards to be conveyed to the president.
“It therefore can be seen that the notice was received by the suspended deputy and two of the VPs. The other VPs who did not open their emails cannot blame the office because as far as the provision stated, notice must be sent out. It didn’t say in what form the notice must be sent out. At this age of information technology, communication through email is a common and acceptable mode.
“Further, when the presidential council began its meeting, there were eight members present and this is sufficient quorum under the law as stated in the provision. Once the presidential council sits, the provision gives the presidential council all the powers of the supreme council and to do all things necessary thereto,” he stressed.
Loretto explained: “It is an encompassing provision and when it sits and deliberates on matters, its power supersedes that of the supreme council and it can carry out the duties and responsibilities of the supreme council as provided for under the constitution, including removing a member of the supreme council who has shirked in his responsibilities and/or whose conduct or action render him/her unfit to be a member of the supreme council.
Thereafter, it gives power to the president to appoint other members to fill in the vacancies, he said, and added that there was no provision whatsoever that said the presidential council, when taking over the power of the supreme council, could not remove those members who were elected.
“This is just an argument that is not consistent with the constitution. Hence, the decisions made by the presidential council on August 31, to remove those supreme council members and to suspend the deputy president and the other three members, are all done within the spirit of the party’s constitution,” he said.