updated version

After a marathon nine-hour debate, the DAP congress this afternoon unanimously resolved to give the party's central executive committee the mandate to decide on whether to quit or remain in the opposition Barisan Alternatif coalition.

A total of 30 out of the some 300 delegates to the party's 13th annual congress in Kuala Lumpur participated in the debate on DAP's dispute with coalition partner PAS over the Islamic state issue.

The marathon debate began yesterday, in a session which lasted three hours, and continued today for another six hours.

Reflecting the deep divisions in party ranks over the DAP's participation in the BA coalition, 15 of the speakers called for DAP to leave the coalition while 12 argued that it should stay put.

Another three speakers said that it did not matter whether the party remained or quit the opposition front.

At the end of the debate, the congress decided to back the resolution from the outgoing central executive committee yesterday calling on the delegates to leave the final decision to the new CEC.

No split

Meanwhile, the party's Youth chief Teng Chang Khim denied there was a split in the party saying that it was normal for political parties to have differences of opinions.

Recently, Teng had caused an uproar in the party when he publicly urged its national chairman Lim Kit Siang to step down and pave the way for younger leaders.

This evoked a volley of criticism from other party leaders who felt that DAP still required the services of its veteran leader.

"In every political party, there are various schools of opinions. Even in the Communist Party of China, there are differences, what more in a democratic system like ours," said Teng.

However, Teng added that he still firmly believed that it is time for Lim to relinquish his position.

Asked if the differences were a generational conflict, Teng replied that as far as political differences were concerned, age was not an issue.

"It doesn't matter whether the young agree while the older generation disagrees, and vice versa," he said.

The congress is currently debating other resolutions and the party's new leadership line-up for the next three years is expected to be announced later tonight.