DAP national publicity assistant secretary N Rajen Diran will not appeal against the one-year suspension slapped on him last week for revealing internal party affairs to the media.

When contacted today, he said it would not make any sense to appeal to the central executive committee as the grievance which he had openly expressed concerned those in the committee.

On why he had turned to the media, Rajen said it was not possible to resolve a dispute with the top leadership internally as there were no such provisions.

"My grievance is against the highest authorities in the central committee, how can I resolve the issue short of going to the press as it cannot take place within party channels," he added.

'Show-cause letter'

Prior to the suspension, he was issued a 'show cause' letter by the disciplinary committee asking him to explain his press statement on May 21 which criticised central committee leaders over their handling of the leadership crisis in DAP Selangor.

Rajen Diran had alleged that the top leaders failed to see through attempts by other committee members to sabotage state chairperson M Manoharan.

On May 19, the central committee overturned Manoharan's decision to sack eight state committee members for failing to attend three consecutive meetings and replaced the state committee with an interim one.

Rajen explained today that he disapproved of how the Selangor matter was being handled because a similar crisis in Negeri Sembilan proved that problems can persist even when an interim committee chosen by national leaders takes over.

On July 19, the disciplinary committee - headed by Perak state chairperson Ngeh Koo Ham - suspended him for a year after rejecting his written explanation.

Report denied

According to disciplinary committee member Chong Eng, Rajen was not consulted as he had failed to attend the hearing or provide any notice of absence.

"He did not inform us that he was unable to attend the meeting, so a decision was made," she said when contacted.

She also said that the suspension order was signed by her on behalf of the committee chairperson.

Meanwhile, Ngeh denied a report in The Star today which claimed that he was unaware of the suspension and quoted him as saying that there was "no such thing".

He said that instead of responding to the question posed two him on two occasions, he referred the reporter to press statements previously issued on the matter of party suspensions

"Of course as chair of the disciplinary committee I was aware of the matter - I even drafted the [suspension] letter - but I could also see through the agenda of the reporter, whom I felt wanted to cast a bad light on the party. I did not want to entertain him," he said when contacted.