The DAP Perak state election this Sunday seem to have all the trappings of a suspense thriller movie with its political alleged acts of intrigue, a witchhunt, sabotage, backstabbing, rewards, promises, self-greed and political survival for the next general election.

The political undercurrents in the party continue although a gag order has been imposed by national leaders to try to cap the volatile state volcano to stop it from spilling into the streets.

dap perak crisis 031010 kula vs ngeh The two feuding factions are the two cousins of state party chief Ngeh Koo Ham and state party secretary Nga Kor Ming on one side, and other disillusioned DAP members led by party deputy chief M Kulasegaran who is supported by party state organising secretary Thomas Su on the other.                                            

Recently, two public relation exercises in the form of party dinners were held by party leaders in Bidor and Jelapang to show that the two feuding state party factions have rebuilt their burned  political bridges and have closed ranks in the interest of party unity.

On the surface, the ranks of the state party members seem to have put their political differences aside and an atmosphere of calm seems to have descended  in time for state party elections on Sunday.

However, as the saying goes there is a calm before the storm, and the smouldering state party volcano is set to erupt come party election time.

This time around there will be fireworks in the election of the 15 state committee members from among the 41 party candidates, when compared to the tame affair of the state party election in 2008.

fong po kuan and dap happy 220208 Initially there were 46 candidates for the state party committee, but five  nominees including Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan ( right ) withdrew from the competition when the nominations closed.

In the 2008 party election, Kulasegaran stole the election limelight with the highest number of party votes, while Su came fourth, Ngeh  stood at fifth and Nga came eighth.

According to a party insider, the party’s central  executive committee (CEC) consisting of 25 members had to step in to stop the deregistration of 10 state DAP branches said to be supporters of Kulasegaran’s camp.

According to the party source, the irony is that six of the 25 CEC members come from the feuding Perak party, consisting of party supremo Lim Kit Siang who stood neutral in the feud, Ngeh, Nga, Kualasegaran, Su and state vice-chief Seah Leong Peng.

Battle royale on Sunday

On Sunday, the party’s battle royale will start after both Ngeh and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng have delivered their respective speeches starting at 10am at Tower Regency in Ipoh.

Seven party delegates from each of the 174 party state branches, totalling 1,218 delegates, will cast their votes to set the state party’s political course into the next general election.

As the stakes are greater this time around, loyalty and gratitude among some party members seem to have been put on the back burner and are replaced by personal interest and political survival  in the party’s rat race to the election finish.

Some members have switched to the party camp which they believe is stronger to win, to ensure that they are elected to the 15-member committee, which will favour them to be selected as party candidates for the forth coming general  election.

Both factions declined to comment on the forthcoming hot party state election because of the gag order from the party leadership.

However, Ngeh, as state party chief, claimed that the two feuding factions  have resolved their political differences and are at peace.

Furthermore, he argued that the membership of the state party has tripled since the last party election and as such there is bound to be competition, hiccups and feuding among the candidates during the party election.

“However, the party members will close ranks after the party election and stand united to face the coming general election,” he reasoned.