Calling for a fresh party election for PKR will cause a constitutional crisis which will risk the possibility of the party being deregistered by the Registrar of Societies (ROS), warns party national vice-president Dr Lee Boon Chye.

“There is no way that we can call off the present party election process or call for a fresh party election as we risk being deregistered.

“We have to conduct the party congress by the end of November which is our deadline, and if we fail to meet the deadline that means we have contravened the Societies Act and risk being deregistered.

NONE This factor is what we have to consider (for the call for fresh elections) and we have to elect the new party office bearers by the end of November when our term of office ends,” the party state deputy chief explained.

Lee ( left ), who is also PKR Gopeng MP, said this when asked to comment on the call by both Zaid Ibrahim and Perak party chief Mustaffa Kamil Ayub to stop the current party elections which they alleged were flawed, and both had also called for fresh party elections.

As to speculation that Zaid is intending to quit PKR and form a new splinter party, Lee said that Zaid is still a party member as he has not tendered his resignation.

When asked in the event that Zaid quits, would it affect or weaken the party, Lee snapped, “You must remember that PKR won the 2008 general election when Zaid was not in the party. So his quitting the party will not make any difference or weaken the party.”

NONE When pressed that Zaid is speculated to announce the formation of his new party over the weekend, Lee sarcastically said,  “In Malaysia when you can get the right support from Umno, you can form any political party within 24 hours. But if you are not in their favour, then even after 10 years you still cannot register your party.”

He was apparently referring to Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) which had to struggle politically for nearly 10 years before it was registered by the ROS.

When asked about the possibility of Mustaffa withdrawing himself from the party deputy presidential contest and whether it would affect the party, Lee said, “In the first place he is not in the race (meaning he was in third place before Zaid withdrew from the race)  so it does not make any difference.”  

When asked about Zaid’s call for both party supremo Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali to step down from the party, Lee retorted, “It is not for Zaid or Dr Lee Boon Chye to call for their resignations as the power only remains with the party members and nobody else.”

‘Improving day by day’

Lee admitted there were hiccups in the party elections and the shortcomings have to be resolved to win the confidence of the party members.

“This is the first time that we are conducting direct elections in a situation with very limited resources and of course there are a lot of teething problems to be resolved but we are improving day by day.

“A lot of the complaints are related to the first round when we had our party division elections, but now since the central-level elections had started, the complaints are much fewer as we have tightened some of the administrative loopholes to make them run more smoothly.”

“To era is human, no one is perfect - so we intend to improve the system so that we do better in the future.

“We are looking into the complaints where some are technical and some are sabotage while others are genuine. and we will certainly address all the shortcomings and give satisfactory answers to the complainants,” assured the national vice-chief, who is defending his post.

NONE Lee was speaking to reporters at the party’s Ipoh Timor division office today after showing a videoclip of Umno Titiwangsa division chief Johari Abdul Ghani allegedly uttering a racist statement that “We do not need votes from  Chinese and Indians” at a party function.

According to state party vice-chief Chang Lih Kang, this videoclip was posted on YouTube during the Galas state seat by-election and it had registered 330,000 hits before it was taken down after Johari had lodged a complaint with YouTube that the videoclip was an invasion of privacy.

But both Lee and Chang countered that it is not so, but is a racist statement that borders on sedition.

PKR has appealed to YouTube to again post the videoclip and the party is considering putting up this video clip again on Facebook.com/jomubahmsia .

PKR said that this matter is of public interest and either Umno or the authorities must take action against Johari, whom they challenge to make a public denial if he is really innocent as he claims to be.   

Lee added, “He is a coward if he does not admit it.”