Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email After saying he resigned, Siva made a major U-turn after 6 hours. There’s few things one can summarise from this drama:
1. I suspect that there are some some of pre-election agreement by DAP candidates to quite their seats if the decided to jump parties. Maybe Sivasubramaniam was reminded of this and any legal action that could be taken against him by DAP if he resigned.
2. It seems clear that it was misundertanding on Sivasubramaniam and lack of communication between him and Ngeh that caused this problem. The issue is of promising something earlier and later not fulfilling it.
3. Its possible Sivasubramaniam has been looking for some position, but became upset after being sidelined.
Ths kind of things can be avoided if DAP communicates better with its people. It should have talked to all its representatives, explained to them clearly on the selection of the EXCOs, why not two Indians, why no women etc. However, its clear that the post of Speaker will be given to an Indian. My concern is that it is given to a capable person. If no Indian is capable, it should not be given to him. Same goes for EXCOs. If two Indians deserve it, they should be given the positions. Its important for DAP to walk its talk. If this kind news keep popping up, it will look bad on DAP.
Extract from the Star (source):
IPOH: It was a day of drama for the Perak coalition government when a DAP assemblyman quit from his party, – sending party leaders scrambling – only to retract his resignation six hours later.
The resignation of Buntong assemblyman A. Sivasubramaniam shocked his state chief Ngeh Koo Ham and the rest of the Indian DAP representatives. Various meetings were convened, including one between Ngeh and Sivasubramaniam and at 6pm, party leaders held a press conference at Wisma DAP and the latter declared he had retracted his resignation.
His resignation would have put the DAP-PAS-PKR coalition government in a precarious position as it would only have 30 of the state assembly’s 59 members, giving it a razor-thin one seat majority in the house. Barisan Nasional has 28 members.
An emergency meeting was held with Ngeh and the other Indian elected representatives. Up until 3pm, efforts by state DAP leaders to contact Sivasubramaniam failed. At about 5pm, Ngeh managed to have a five-minute discussion with Sivasubramaniam and the matter was put to rest. An hour later, a press conference was called where Sivasubramaniam, who is also DAP Socialist Youth committee member, retracted his resignation letter. He said the whole episode was a “mistake and misunderstanding” on his part. “The matter has been solved. I am satisfied with Ngeh’s explanation that the post of assembly Speaker would be filled by an Indian leader,” he said.
Sivasubramaniam said his ailing mother was the one who convinced him to discuss his resignation with the party leadership, adding that even if he had resigned, he would have stayed independent.
Ngeh said Perak DAP was not sidelining the interest of the Indian community. Acknowledging that the party had originally planned to have two Indian assemblymen as exco members, he said the party had then, in principle, agreed to have an Indian assemblyman as state assembly Speaker. He promised that there would be more Indian representation in the state government compared with the previous administration. “There is a misunderstanding. We have to first wait for the full list of state appointments. Only then will the people know that we did not neglect the Indian community or the fairer sex,” he said.
On whether the resignation had jeopardised the image of a stable state government or had created a bad impression, Ngeh said: “I hope not. This is just a misunderstanding.”
Asked whether a post was offered to Sivasubramaniam for him to retract his resignation, Ngeh said: “No.”
DAP Perak rep U-turns hours after quitting
http://malaysiakini.com/news/80617
Andrew Ong | Mar 31, 08 12:46pm
In a dramatic turnaround, newly-elected Buntong state assemblyperson A Sivasubramaniam has retracted his resignation from DAP hours after he made the announcement today. His sudden resignation would have affected the tenuous grip on power by the DAP-PKR-PAS coalition, giving it only a one-seat majority over the Barisan Nasional opposition. Sivasubramaniam’s about-turn was announced at a hastily-organised press conference at 6pm in Ipoh. Sivasubramaniam’s decision to quit seven hours earlier was due to his unhappiness over the party’s allocation of only one position to an Indian in the state cabinet, the executive council.
Contacted by Malaysiakini this evening, Sivasubramaniam said he retracted his resignation after state leaders have assured him that there would be other opportunities for Indians in the state administration.
He said that he had settled the matter amicably after speaking to both party leader Lim Guan Eng and DAP Perak chief Ngeh Khoo Ham earlier today.
However, he defended his earlier decision to quit because the exco lineup which was announced on Saturday had disappointed the Indian community who had staunchly backed DAP, PKR and PAS. “I received many calls and SMSes yesterday saying that the Indians had been sidelined again,” he said.
He said he had queried Ngeh (left) on the matter yesterday but was merely told “an announcement would be made later”, prompting him to submit his resignation this morning. “I couldn’t wait any more, so I handed in my resignation. But the situation was only explained to me today. If this was done earlier, there wouldn’t have been this problem,” he added.
“I believe what I’ve done today is a plus-point for the Indians,” he stressed, when asked if he regretted his move to hand in his resignation letter.
In view of the latest development, Sivasubramaniam also apologised for causing uneasiness to the public, the Buntong electorate, the party and the media.
An Indian for assembly’s speaker
Meanwhile, Ngeh told Malaysiakini that the resignation scare was the result of a misunderstanding.
Contrary to Sivasubramaniam’s claims, Ngeh said that the state government plans to equitably allocate important positions to the Indian community. This includes the nomination of an Indian to fill the state assembly speaker’s post. It is unclear whether Sivasubramaniam would be “rewarded” the post after his U-turn today.
“Out of respect for the state assembly, I could not announce it. When he asked about why only one Indian was given an exco post, I told there would be further announcements. “Unfortunately, he misunderstood and thought that we behaved like Barisan, and would allocate only one exco post for the Indians. “I have contacted him and clarified the matter and he agreed that the Indians are well represented,” said Ngeh.
Ngeh urged the public and party members not to judge the party’s leadership prematurely, adding that there are a host of vacancies which needs to be filled. He assured that all groups would be given due consideration, including minority groups and women.
However, Ngeh refused to reveal the name of the person nominated for the speaker’s post.
Buntong is a state seat where nearly 50 percent of voters are from the Indian community. Sivasubramaniam won with 10,311 votes – double that of his opponent Lee Tung Lai of MCA.
Hanging by a thread
Had Sivasubramaniam departed from the party, the DAP-PKR-PAS coalition state government would be hanging by a thread with only 30 seats against the BN opposition’s 29 in the 59-seat state assembly. The loose ruling coalition currently holds a three-seat 31-28 majority.
Sivasubramaniam’s decision came hot in the heels after he was left out from the new exco line-up. The new exco members were sworn in last Saturday, with the sole Indian in the team being Sungkai assemblyperson A Sivanesan.
This sparked rumours of a protest rally – purportedly to be held in Ipoh yesterday morning, although it did not materialise.
Perak govt crisis averted
By : Jaspal Singh
source
IPOH: The Perak tripartite government was tottering yesterday when a DAP assemblyman resigned from the party in protest against the appointment of only one Indian in the state executive council. However, within hours of submitting his resignation and causing a crisis in the administration, Buntong state assemblyman A. Siva Subramaniam did a U-turn. He claimed that he had “misunderstood” the party’s stand on Indian representation in the stategovernment.
DAP vice-chairman M. Kulasegaran said Siva “did not know there were other opportunities for Indians to be represented in government”. Kulasegaran said the opportunities included appointments to the senate, the position of speaker in the Perak legislative assembly and that of mayor. “We explained this to him and he had agreed to come back to us.”
This political drama was the second such incident involving the DAP since the general election was called.
Fong Po Kuan, its candidate for the Batu Gajah parliamentary seat disappeared one week before the Feb 24 nomination day, after announcing that she was not going to contest, blaming the party leadership. But she made an about-turn.
Yesterday, Siva faxed a statement to the media about noon announcing that he was quitting the party because of dissatisfaction and loss of confidence in its leadership. He claimed that the party had failed to fulfil the promise given by its chairman, Ngeh Koo Ham, that two state exco posts would be given to Indian state representatives. “This shows that DAP does not respect the spirit of ‘makkal sakti’ (people’s power in Tamil). The DAP’s victory in the general election was due to the makkal sakti spirit,” he said.
Of the 10 state exco posts, N. Sivanesan was made human resources committee chairman.
After he faxed his statement, Siva was incommunicado. Neither reporters nor Perak DAP officials were able to reach him. This resulted in Perak DAP issuing a statement around 4pm to reporters gathered at the party’s state headquarters that it was trying hard to locate Siva. About 5.30pm, reporters were notified by party secretary Nga Kor Ming that there would be a press conference at 6pm in which Siva would be present. Six hours after declaring that he has quit the party, Siva retracted his statement. Siva denied that he made an about-turn because the party had offered him a high position in the state government.
Ngeh, meanwhile, stated that he would keep his promises of giving more positions of power to the Indian members. “In fact, it has been agreed by DAP, PKR and Pas that the state assembly speaker’s position, a much higher post than a state exco, be given to an Indian representative when the state assembly convenes soon,” he said. Ngeh said there were many openings for members of the Indian community in state government agencies, government-linked companies and local councils, among others.
Also present at the press conference were Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang, Ipoh Barat MP Kulasegaran, Sivanesan, Malim Nawar state assemblyman Keshvinder Singh and Tronoh state assemblyman V. Sivakumar.
