Two weeks ahead of the DAP's national congress in mid-December, the party will hold its state convention in Penang on Sunday as its members soar towards the Pakatan Rakyat goal of taking over Putrajaya from the BN.

NONE "This year's theme is Forward Penang, towards Putrajaya as this is the last convention before the 13th GE," state DAP secretary Ng Wei Aik ( right ) said.

"Our debate will focus on election issues. The DAP hopes to retain all its seven MPs and 19 state assemblypersons. We do not want to lose any one of them. We will invite PAS and PKR representatives to sit in our convention as well," Ng said.

The DAP is not taking the elections lightly as the BN has warned of its winning " 3-3-3-1 formula " to recapture the state, and the DAP is also aware that it faces at least a dozen " dangerous seats ".

Last year's fireworks

The penang DAP concention is expected to be a tame affair as the party gears towards the 13th general election which must be held by May next year.

Asked whether he was prepared for any fireworks, Ng said the party respected the freedom of speech of its delegates.

"They can take up any issue under the sun but I hope they will focus on the general election. That is the priority," he said.

penang dap convention karpal lim guan eng ramasamy Last year, the state convention turned chaotic, with the "Godfather vs Warlord" drama breaking out between national chairman Karpal Singh and state deputy chief P Ramasamy.

Before the convention began in Prai, a large group of protesters gathered to condemn those in Karpal's camp, such as assemblypersons RSN Rayer (Seri Delima) and A Thanasekran (Bagan Dalam).

During the meeting, Karpal, who is Bukit Gelugor MP, openly castigated Ramasamy for announcing the candidacy of four members in a Tamil language newspaper, which has since withdrawn the report.

No resolutions from branches

Ng said 942 delegates, including 924 representatives from 132 state branches, committees, assemblypersons and MPs will attend the convention at the Red Rock Hotel.

The hotel is historical for DAP, for that was the venue party officials gathered to decide on their first chief minister for Penang, secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

"There will be no state election this year as it has been postponed and every branch can send a total of seven delegates to the convention," Ng, who is also state DAP Socialist Youth chief, said.

" We have not received any resolution from any branch, even after the Nov 3 deadline. We only have 15 proposed resolutions sent by the state committee," he added.