A successive spate of internal bickering within DAP over the past few months has brought to bear recurring criticisms against the leadership style of party veteran and strongman Lim Kit Siang.

At a candid exchange in a Kuala Lumpur forum yesterday with a group of young professionals, Lim was questioned relentlessly on whether his long-term leadership of the party - as secretary-general for 30 years from 1969 and then as party chairperson from 1999 onwards - had become more of a burden than a boon.

Among the tougher criticisms raised, Lim was asked to comment on the perception that his "dictatorial tendencies" (a term coined by one of his detractors) had driven away many of the party's promising leaders and whether he was guilty of nepotism by allegedly grooming his son, Guan Eng, to take over leadership of the party.