Why Tony Pua was booted from Selangor DAP leadership

The delightful and overdue ouster of Tony Pua was NOT without indications as I had read the following TMI article last month. Reproducing it here for your perusal.

TMI - Plot to oust Tony Pua in Selangor: [extracts]

SELANGOR DAP grassroots leaders want to oust Tony Pua as the state chairman, claiming that he has lost touch with the ground, said party sources.

Pua’s detractors alleged that under his leadership, the state chapter has moved away from its members.

[kt's note: not surprised as I found him arrogant, elitist and overbearing - very un-Chinese as I posted in un-Chinese Tony Pua]

Sources told The Malaysian Insight that the party’s Selangor grassroots want to replace Pua with Selangor executive councillor Ng Sze Han.

And they want more local leaders elected to the state’s committee in the coming state party elections.

But at the same time, there are fears of repercussion as Pua is seen to be close to the national leadership.

Damansara MP Pua is the special officer to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, the party’s secretary-general, and as such his foes do not want to act rashly.

from FMT March 2016

There is no need for Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to go on leave while the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) conducts its investigation into the purchase of his RM2.8 million bungalow, says DAP MP Tony Pua.

“If he is made to take leave before the investigation is completed, he will be subjected to all sorts of accusations and allegations that are completely without basis.“Then we all have to take leave from our positions. It’s baseless, absolutely baseless,” said Pua when met at the Parliament lobby here today.

Previously, Opposition party members had insisted on Prime Minister Najib Razak taking a leave of absence while investigations into the RM2.6 billion political donation in his bank accounts and allegations of misappropriation in 1Malaysia Development Berhad were carried out.Pua said the same standard, however, did not apply to Lim.


wakakaka

So far, 45 individuals have been nominated in the state elections and the candidates have until November 26 to confirm their candidacy.

There is still time for backroom manoeuvring to foil any plot against Pua, said sources.

“We hope the elections this time will see more grassroots leaders elected. We don’t want any more dominance by a single faction.

“The grassroots have been feeling this way for some time. The central leadership is making decisions without consulting or considering members’ opinions at the state level,” said a source.

[kt's note: undeniably LGE has been over-controlling and over-bearing, even in his own party]

The dissatisfaction against Pua stems from, among others, the opaque selection of candidates during the 14th general election and the reduced appointment of councillors in local governments.

[kt's note: as I've often blogged on, old party veterans like Zul Nor was marginalised despite over 28 years of faithful service and sacrifices]

Zulkifli Mohd Noor

I wrote this in 2014:

Unfortunately, as I see it, the new DAP leadership might have come to forget old faithfuls, the true party believers like Zul, in their new found preference for the newer generation of leaders, those with MBA and all sorts of glittering paper qualifications or even high profile personalities like Ariff Sabri.

Perhaps Zul has been a tragic victim of the new DAP leadership strategy and strategic perception.

for more, see my post
The necessary Malay-nization of DAP

They said the grassroots were also unhappy over the way candidates were picked.

There are also fewer councillors after GE14, local leaders said.

“When there was still Pakatan Rakyat, the appointments were split three ways between DAP, PKR and PAS. Now under Pakatan Harapan, the appointments have to be split four ways with Amanah and Bersatu in the mix, leading to fewer appointments,” another source said.

Selangor exco Ng Sze Han has the backing of some local leaders to replace Tony Pua as state chairman.

Ng Sze Han

won 491 votes, the highest, 200 more than TP's 292 votes
nonetheless, the 15 DAP state leaders voted for Minister Gobind to be their state leader

syabas Bhai 

While it is true that the quota for local councillors had been reduced for DAP in some Chinese-majority areas, it had also seen an increase in some Malay areas after the last general election. However, this did not appease the grassroots.
They are also not happy over the candidate selection for the Balakong by-election, which was triggered after the sudden death of its former assemblyman, Eddie Ng, in a car accident.

Former TV journalist Yunna Tan was first proposed for the seat, which upset many grassroots leaders who then took to the media to express their anger.

This escalated into a spat with Pua, who accused them of not respecting the party leadership.

Yunna Tan 

The dispute was solved by a central party committee chaired by party elder Lim Kit Siang, which then picked former Subang Jaya councillor Wong Siew Ki to contest in Balakong.

I advise Lim Guan Eng not to be too haughty and to take note of his party's grassroot feelings about his style of leadership and also his inner coterie. Tokong should be mindful he's now dealing with the DAP party itself and not MCA or Gerakan.

mien sneow chnua, towkay