Truth matters despite negative impact, says CM

Despite inviting negative perception against the DAP, its leadership had unanimously agreed to reveal the truth about an error found in the recent party poll, said secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

"What is most important is that we want to speak the truth, although it gives a negative impact to the party. This is a principle the party holds on to and will continue to do so.

"The polls returning officer (RO) had admitted his mistake openly and apologised for it. If there is any mistake like that, we have to admit it and speak the truth.

“We are not going to live a lie, we have to be honest about it. I am happy and thank my colleagues for sharing the same views,” the Penang chief minister told reporters at a press conference, today.

Lim thanked the DAP central executive committee (CEC) for accepting his proposal to announce the correction when the party discovered that an error had occurred on the computer spreadsheet to tabulate the results.

"After the party's national congress on Dec 16, I was told by RO Pooi Weng Keong that he had made a mistake," Lim said after attending the swearing in ceremony of new Penang Municipal councillors in Padang Kota Lama.

He claimed he said the mistake must be announced, although he, himself, did not understand how such a mistake could have happened.

Pooi has since quit all his part posts, as the party election officer and Federal Territory state committee member, said Lim.

Accounting firm to handle future polls

To ensure that there are no more mistakes, the party appointed an internal audit team, headed by election expert and party member Ong Kian Ming, to conduct a check.

Ong confirmed the mistake and this was further verified by an independent chartered accountant, said Lim when explaining why it took 16 days after the polls to reveal the error.

When asked how the party intends to avoid any errors in its polls results in future, Lim said an accounting firm will be asked to handle the exercise.

Lim was referring to the error that was found when the number of votes for candidate number 31 to 38 (which included Lim's political secretary Zairil Khir Johari) were erroneously entered for candidates number 61 to 68 (which included organising secretary Vincent Wu).

The error is a major one as originally Zairil (above) was recorded as having only 304 votes, whereas in the revised results, Zairil bagged 803 votes, an increase of a whopping 499 votes.

The earlier results invited a series of brickbats from several quarters, especially Umno, as it revealed, now erroneously, that no Malay leader had been elected into the top 20 posts in the CEC.

This also explains why virtually unknown grassroot leader, Wu, clinched the No 5 spot in the DAP polls.

Zairil is 'Mr Technical Error'

Meanwhile, despite the DAP's 'honesty' in admitting its mistake, its opponents describe the matter as a "big joke".

"This is a big joke at the start of the new year. In fact, we can say it is the biggest joke of the year," said Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow.

Teng (left), who is Gerakan secretary-general, said that DAP often gave the impression that they are "people of high moral ground" and so it is questionable how a blunder like this could have happened.

"They did not cheat, they did not manipulate, sure, they are people of high moral ground, how can they do such a thing?" quipped Teng, laughing out loudly.

"It's a technical error, not manipulation. It took them 16 days to discover a technical error.

"They seems to be more effective than the Election Commission, which takes five years to find out such a thing," he added sarcastically.

Teng, a former Penang executive councillor, also poked fun at Zairil, saying that from now on, the latter shall be know as "Mr Technical Error".