Factionalism reared its ugly head in the Klang DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) annual general meeting last night when two camps started hurling abusive language at each other.

What was also supposed to have been the divisional Youth wing elections was forced to be put off when the chairperson of the meeting lost control as the heated arguments fast turned violent.

NONE It was reported in an English daily that the supporters of embattled Pandamaran MP and Selangor exco Ronnie Liu ( right ) and his aide-turned-nemesis former Klang councillor Tee Boon Hock were the originators of the incident.

In the report by The Star , the meeting attended by 200 people was apparently marred from the beginning at 8.30pm with minor arguments from the two groups, growing more intense 45 minutes later.

However, when contacted by Malaysiakini , the AGM's chairperson Cheong Siow Foon - also the Selangor Dapsy deputy chief - said that he had to postpone the elections as it had not adhered to the party constitution from the start.

"When I arrived and looked at the membership list, I found many controversial problems," he said, adding that there were even people who had exceed the wing's age limit of 40 still in the membership rolls.

Membership list not updated

He also said that the list was from 2009, and that the secretariat had failed to update it to this year.

According to the party constitution, a Dapsy member is automatically an AGM delegate if fees are paid before the annual Feb 28 deadline, or if they are life members.

"Many also didn't bring along their membership cards. If we had allowed the meeting to proceed, it would have created many issues so we decided to postpone it because we want a fair election," he said.

Calling himself an "independent party", Cheong did not deny that Klang DAP is in the grip of factionalism.

"I am not from Klang, so I had to make sure that the meeting went well," he said.

He also recounted that he was swarmed by protesting members when he decided to end the meeting.

Denying press reports that chairs were thrown, he, however, admitted that a man, suspected to be from Liu's camp, had attempted to throw one but was stopped by the others.

Battle of the ‘proxies'

dap kota alam shah pc 270108 lim lip suan Meanwhile, speculation has it that incumbent division youth chief Lim Lip Suan ( left ), perceived as aligned to Liu, had been pushing for the AGM from the beginning.

Lim had denied that division leadership was "worried about losing power" and that the postponement was completely due to technical reasons.

He also claimed that the meeting started off normally but turned chaotic only after the chairperson called off at 9.30pm.

Lim also pinpointed"someone with bad intention who wants to show their power" as the instigating culprit.

But his rival, Lee Fu Haw - also the Klang DAP liaison secretary - previously a vocal Tee support during the support letter fiasco, had protested several days ago, claiming that the members were not properly notified of the AGM.

"Nearly half of the branches in Klang were not given proper notice of the AGM," he told Malaysiakini . He also denied claims that he is the "trouble-maker" in this episode or that he is a "proxy".

"I don't support Tee or Ronnie. What I do is for the sake of the party and not personal interest," he said, also rubbishing reports that he intends to challenge Lim for the post of division Youth chief. Lim also denied being in Liu's camp.

Ties within DAP Klang were strained when Tee - Liu's former aide and also a party stalwart in the area - was sacked from the party and as municipal councillor when it was found that he had issued support letters in favour of his son's company.

Also , the audit team formed by the Selangor government had found no evidence that Liu's signature was forged in the support letters as previously claimed by him, but yet action has not been taken against him.

He was also "severely reprimanded" by the party's disciplinary council.