Selangor DAP vice-chairperson Teng Chang Khim, who has been criticised by party colleagues for his no-show at several state committee meetings of late, has come out with reasons to justify his absence.

In a statement today responding to criticism from Selangor DAP committee member and Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo, Teng said not all matters had been opened up for discussion in the state committee meetings and this had led him to stop attending the meetings.

malaysiakini and merdekareview subscription plan lauching 200911 teng chang khim "Firstly, I had repeatedly raised from the very beginning that all the exco members in the Selangor government should report at every meeting the progress of the state government administration and to obtain the approval of the state committee before any important policy, programme or bill is to be introduced or implemented.

"The reason is crystal clear, because the DAP is now one of the partners in the ruling coalition. The party should run the government through the representatives in the state executive council.

"The DAP exco members should not be allowed to cruise on auto-pilot mode while the state party leadership is kept in the dark and when things go wrong, it is always too late to rectify. However, this request has been ignored," Teng said.

He said he had also requested that the state discusses in depth the line-up of the candidates and the manifesto in view of the speculation of an early election, but all these had either been ignored or evaded.

"I would not want to presume that nothing has been done. Perhaps something might have been discreetly done elsewhere."

Absence arose out of frustration withb committee

The two matters mentioned, he said, were sufficient to explain that his absence and that of the other committee members in the recent meetings arose out of frustration.

"I do not intend to reveal further unless I am forced to defend myself," said Teng, who is the Selangor state assembly speaker.

NONE He also hit back at Gobind and "some elected representatives" for their "embarrassing rate of absence" in the last few months from the fortnightly-turned-weekly state Pakatan Rakyat meetings.

At the meetings, chaired by the Selangor menteri besar, matters concerning the state administration, policy implementation, various problems in the constituencies and grievances of the people in preparation for the general election are discussed.

"This platform, which I have attended diligently except when abroad or outstation, is certainly more important than a committee that has trivialised itself to discussing only not-so-important matters," Teng said.

The dispute between Teng and other Selangor DAP leaders exploded after Teng was the only state committee member absent from the Selangor DAP's annual convention last Sunday.

Teng said he was informed about the convention only at eleventh hour but it this refuted by a state DAP committee member who said Teng has been included in the committee's email correspondences on the convention and two letters on the convention had also been sent to him.

The leader claimed Teng had not attended four consecutive state committee meetings since March.

However, Teng, the assemblyperson for Sungai Pinang, argued that the meetings have been dwelling on trivial issues rather than on preparations for the general election, which prompted Gobind to lambast Teng for trivialising the meetings.