Perak DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming has urged vanquished state deputy chief M Kulasegaran's team to accept an appointment as vice-chairperson of the state leadership.

He said Kulasegaran should accept the appointment in order to strengthen the state leadership in its struggle to achieve the party's 'Malaysian Malaysia' goals.

NONE "I urge all DAP members to unite, look at the bigger picture, and restart our journey," said Nga in a statement today.

Nga said that 1,205 delegates from 175 branches had made their choice in a healthy democratic election and that the results should be respected.

Now that the election is over, he urged all quarters to do the "right and mature thing" to unite and prepare for the next general election.

He stressed that newly-reappointed Perak DAP chairperson Ngeh Khoo Ham had personally suggested that Kulasegaran and A Sivanesan be made the new vice-presidents.

He said this gesture was in the spirit of friendship and inclusiveness and hoped the duo would accept the new leadership's goodwill.

"BN wants to see us in trouble. Lets make sure we give them a disappointment. Let’s not fall into their trap," he said.

New line-up 'highly qualified'

During the state DAP polls yesterday, Kulasegaran was 16th in the contest to choose 15 central committee members. Others aligned to him were vanquished save for Leong Mee Meng who made it to the 15th spot.

The central committee then met yesterday to assign among themselves the various positions in the state leadership.

dap education roundtable meeting 111006 m kulasegaran The results were somewhat unexpected given that Kulasegaran (left) was placed first in the 2008 state polls, ahead of both Ngeh and Nga, who were then placed fifth and sixth respectively.

However, the number of delegates who came to vote yesterday had almost quadrupled since 2008 due to the increase in branches in the state. Each branch sends seven delegates to the state annual general meeting.

Ngeh and Nga's detractors claim that the duo have been responsible for unfairly setting up branches to boost their voting base.

Nga said the new state leadership is full of talent with nine lawyers, three engineers, one MBA holder and others with professional background.

"They are elite and yet grassroots. This is the best combination," he said.