While the showdown between the so-called Unity Team and the Justice Reform Group will take centre stage at the Selangor DAP elections this Sunday, eyes will also be focused on how well Ronnie Liu performs at the polls.

NONE Liu is seen as persona non grata by both camps due to the many controversies he has been implicated in since he was appointed Selangor exco member in 2008.

Among others, he has been accused of having links to the underworld, getting in a tiff with PAS over a beer raid in Shah Alam and, most recently, and involvement in the issuance of dodgy recommendation letters for state contractors by Klang municipal councillor Tee Boon Hock.

Tee, who was once Liu’s aide and staunch supporter, was later sacked by the DAP disciplinary committee for issuing recommendation letters to a company owned by his son.

tee boon hock lodge report against ronnie liu 230910 01 Though Tee ( left ) has maintained that Liu had approved of the letters, Liu was let off by the committee with only a "severe reprimand".

Now, Tee has apparently thrown his support behind Justice Reform Group, said to be led by DAP’s best-known dissident Teng Chang Khim, and has been busy rallying the grassroots against Unity Team led by the party's national organising secretary Teresa Kok.

If Tee is successful, it would bolster his attempts to be reinstated.

Do-or-die

In making its round across the state, the Justice Reform Group has been using Liu as a major campaign issue, claiming that the national and state leadership shielded him during the recommendation letters controversy.

NONE Meanwhile, the Unity Team showcased its 13 leaders during a fund-raising dinner in Serdang on Monday.

Liu was not in the lineup.

He made an appearance at the dinner function, but was the sole high-profile party leader to have left early.

Liu, known for his grassroots style of politics since joining DAP in 1988, is fighting a lonely do-or-die battle to make sure he is among the 15 to be elected as the party's Selangor committee members.

Failing to retain his post may threaten his position as a Selangor exco member and deal a major blow to his political career.

Liu himself has been coy about the party polls and maintained an unusually low profile following the recommendation letters fiasco.

Asked about this, Liu said with a chuckle when contacted: "Sometimes, silence is more eloquent than noise.”

He said he would call a press conference tomorrow and "answer some questions".

Has Liu’s nine lives been used up?

Many of his supporters are confident that Liu would survive the polls since his track record shows that he has staved off bigger challenges before.

NONE Liu has fought numerous skirmishes since the early 1990s, during which time he has helmed the state DAP chairperson, deputy chairperson and secretary posts.

Liu reached his peak in 2003 when his team defeated Teng's team and took nearly all state committee seats. Teng ( right ), despite being elected into the committee, quit in a huff.

But Selangor DAP fared poorly in 2004, prompting Liu to step down from the post. He has since remained, however, as an influential figure in Selangor DAP.

In the state party polls in 2008, Liu came in ninth among the 15 elected committee members, but was not appointed to any post.

However, he was coopted into the national central executive committee, a post he has held since 1988, which placed him firmly in the DAP mainstream.

Some observers have dubbed him in Hokkien as the Ti Kong Kia (son of the Jade Emperor) due to his repeated ability to survive political turmoil.

According to the latest figures, 1,100 delegates from 145 branches will be casting their ballots during the state DAP convention at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Center.

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