The less than satisfactory performance by DAP Selangor has brought to surface discontent among some of its members over seat allocations during the general election.

While several key Selangor leaders and party members downplayed any major split, they conceded today that dissatisfaction has been brewing over the state committee's choice of election candidates.

This was highlighted in a report in the Star today which quoted a party insider as saying that Selangor DAP was split into three factions - one led by chairperson Ronnie Liu, one by Sungai Pinang state assemblyperson Teng Chang Khim and the third by former state committee member T Kannan.

Although the rivalry between Liu and Teng had been frequently highlighted in the media over the past year, this is the first time that Kannan has been reported to be heading his own group of supporters.

Indian candidates

Contacted later, Kannan denied being involved in factionalism although he admitted dissatisfaction over the state leadership's decision to field young and inexperienced candidates who eventually failed to capture winnable seats in the state.

"I decided to stay out of the election because I was offered seats in Puchong and Bandar Kinrara which are tough," he said.

In 1999, Kannan had contested for the Kampung Tunku state seat and lost by a 2,736 majority to MCA's Wong Sai Hou.

He said that his intention was to remain in the area for a second bid at victory.

"The Kampung Tunku seat is a winnable one because we didn't lose by a big majority in 1999. But they didn't give me a good reason not to field me again. It was not fair as I had worked in the area but at the eleventh hour they gave me other seats," he added.

This time around the Kampung Tunku seat was given to Ean Yong Hian Wah who lost to Wong by a 3,612 vote majority.

Kannan said there was also dissatisfaction among members over the lack of Indian candidates in the election line-up.

"Some members feel that Indian leaders have been given raw deals (despite the fact that) Indian branches make up about a third of all branches in Selangor," he added.

Kerk's intervention

While Teng (photo) dismissed speculation of further splits in Selangor, he said the allocation of seats was the cause of some concern even to national level leadership.

According to him, the state leadership wanted to remove Sekinchan state assemblyperson Ng Swee Lim from standing for the seat although he had worked in the area for the past five years after his first unsuccessful attempt in 1999.

"He was going to be replaced but the branch supported his candidacy. Finally, (ex-party secretary-general) Kerk Kim Hock put his foot down and decided to respect the branch's wishes," he said during a telephone interview.

Asked if Kerk also fought for his candidacy for the state seat in Klang, Teng replied: "I believe so."

Teng, the former Bandar Klang state assemblyperson, was earlier speculated as one of the leaders who could be moved or dropped from the Selangor line-up. However, he contested the Sungai Pinang seat and won by a 3,613 majority against MCA's Khoh Siew Kim.

The Sungai Pinang seat was one of two seats created from the splitting of the Bandar Klang seat during the redelineation exercise. The other was the Kota Alam Shah state seat.

Teng said although the party stood a fair chance of winning the Kota Alam Shah seat, this failed later because of the unfamiliarity of the electorate with the candidate William Thye.

"The candidate was an unknown to the area. I offered to help twice but my offers were opposed. They asked me on the eve of polling day to assist but by then it was too late," he added.

Thye lost to Gerakan's Ching Su Chen by 2,743 votes.

Resignation calls

Selangor DAP has been a particularly troublesome area for the party as it has been the site of several major leadership crises over the past few years.

Aside from the rivalry with Teng and now Kannan, Liu had also clashed with former chairperson M Manoharan.

However, following the party election last August, Liu's camp successfully swept aside their rivals to dominate the state committee, pushing the murmurs of discontent to the background.

Teng and Kannan, both of whom were also elected to the committee, quit their posts nonetheless to make way for Liu's leadership.

However, all hatchets have apparently not been buried as calls emerge now for Liu's resignation over his choice of candidates as well as his own failure to win the Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary seat from MCA incumbent Chew Mei Fun.

The resignation issue was brought up by the Star in another report yesterday which quoted several state leaders as recommending for Liu to quit in the same manner as party secretary-general Kerk after the latter lost the Kota Melaka stronghold to MCA.

While both Teng and Kannan declined from commenting on the resignation, another leader, who requested anonymity echoed this sentiment, saying that Liu's continued position as chairperson would affect the party's image.

However, former chairperson M Manoharan said a resignation would not solve the problems of the branch although Liu has to work on ways to improve the Selangor division by cultivating more capable leaders.

"His choices this time were all weak and first timers. He can remain in the post but he should find ways of solving the problem," he added.

PJU lesson

When contacted, Liu refused to comment on the criticisms against him.

"I don't want to comment on anything that has been raised by the Star. They are non-existent to me," he said.

Liu also rejected the call for his resignation by P Subra, a former DAP branch chairperson, who was quoted in the newspaper report. "Subra is non-existent, he is a non-member," he said.

However, state committee chairperson John Chung said the calls for resignation were not surprising given DAP's lacklustre performance in Selangor.

"There are people who want him to take responsibility. But the state committee will be meeting on Thursday to deliberate and carry out a post-mortem on the election performance," he said.

"What we have decided so far is that the next round, we will have to field a woman candidate in PJU. It will be unlikely that (Liu) will make a third attempt there," he added.