DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock today stressed that the central working committee's recommendation for the Selangor branch leadership to be suspended was not final and would be subjected to the approval of a higher national level body meeting next week.

He said the matter would have to be determined at the party central executive committee meeting o­n May 27 before any action could be taken.

"As of now, aside from the reinstatement of the eight Selangor committee members, there is no change to the branch leadership. The CWC has no powers to dissolve the panel," he said when contacted.

Kerk was referring to a proposal laid out by the CWC yesterday after hearing explanations from three Selangor leaders over the removal of eight state office-bearers for not attending three consecutive meetings.

The eight are state secretary Ronnie Liu, organising secretary Jack Wong, deputy chair Tee Boon Hock, vice chairperson o­ng Ing Siong, publicity secretary William Thye, treasurer Alex Yim, assistant treasurer Ang Leng Kiat and women affairs secretary Madeline Chang.

Their removal was announced by state chairperson M Manoharan o­n Saturday.

Among others, the CWC recommended that they be reinstated to their posts and the CEC takes over administration of the branch until the next state level election scheduled for this August.

' Deep-seated' problems

Kerk said the proposal to dissolve the branch committee was necessary to overcome the "deep-seated" problems underlying two recent quarrels involving its leaders.

"Since I assumed the post of secretary-general, I have refrained from taking tough measures. Previously, we have set up dispute reconciliation committees so that the matter would not have to be brought to the disciplinary committee.

"But since then, I have also said that the honeymoon period is over. Yet, less than three months after I said that, two incidents occur involving Selangor DAP. If we do not stop the bickering, it would further tarnish the party image," he said.

However, he declined to elaborate o­n the problems, saying that they could o­nly be determined after an investigation by the party disciplinary committee.

Disappointed and outraged

Meanwhile, Manoharan expressed his disappointment with the CWC for overturning his decision to remove the eight.

"I am disappointed and our members are outraged by the decision. But I have no choice in the matter. I urge the CEC not to make any irrational decisions now but instead, to let the members decide in August at the state convention whether these eight persons should be retained," he said when contacted.

The state chairperson also appeared dissatisfied with the CWC for insisting o­n a meeting to resolve the dispute yesterday despite his earlier request for a postponement.

"Ronnie (Liu) is a CWC member. That is why the issues he brings up to the CWC are heard swiftly and immediate. o­n the other hand, my request for this meeting to be postponed was delayed," he said.

Yesterday, the lawyer-cum politician told malaysiakini that he would not be present at the meeting as he was attending a court case in Johor.

Questioned about his change of mind later, Manoharan said he decided to rush back so that the CWC would know the "exact" picture and hear both sides of the story.

Manoharan denied that he had any other problems with the eight - whom he dubbed the 'Gang of Eight' - beyond their constant absence from state committee meetings.

"I have always said that members should not take personal matters into party affairs. But the Gang of Eight has continued to put their self-interest above party interests. They should leave their personal interests aside," he said.

Time for change

Contacted later, Liu said o­n behalf of the group that he "respected" the decision and recommendations of the CWC.

"But we want to put o­n record that we did not ask to be taken over by the executive committee. I am a CWC member but I was not in the meeting yesterday. I was not part of the decision-making," he said.

Liu said although there were problems within the Selangor leadership, they were not as bad as it appeared.

"I agree that the impression given to outsiders is o­ne that DAP Selangor is beyond repair and is in complete mess but in actual fact, it is not at all the case. It is just a handful of people who are causing problems by going public twice (about internal disputes)," he said.

Liu said the turn of events emphasised the need for the Selangor division to have new leaders.

"Since the CWC has declared earlier branch annual general meetings to be valid, we can estimate that all branch AGMs would be done by end June. With this, we can then have state level election latest by August.

"Hopefully, we will have a new committee and the problems resolved through a democratic process," he noted.

The dispute between the two factions has been brewing since February when a disagreement over a new committee line-up following the demise of former state chairperson Ahmad Nor led to a walkout by the same eight leaders involved in the recent controversy.

Following the CEC's intervention, Manoharan was confirmed as state chairperson while the appointment of new leaders replacing the eight was nullified.

The rift last week threatened to blow into a major crisis after Manoharan announced the sacking of the eight from the 20-member committee last Saturday.

Three leaders involved in the dispute - Manoharan, Liu and Wong - were subsequently summoned to explain themselves to the CWC yesterday.