One committee post enough for leaders, says Perak Dapsy

IPOH: The DAP’s call to review the one-candidate-two-seat practice has taken a new turn with its Perak Youth wing suggesting that members should not hold more than one committee post in the party.

“Gone are the days when a member held several positions in the party,” Perak DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) political education bureau director P. Sugumaran said, adding that those were the times when the membership was small.

Since the 2008 general election, however, more people had come forward to serve the party, he said.

Citing Dapsy as an example, Sugumaran said several of its committee members were also sitting in state committees.

For example, he said Perak Dapsy chief Wong Kah Koh was also the state DAP publicity secretary while the Youth wing’s deputy chief V. Sivakumar was also Perak DAP assistant secretary.

Sugumaran’s comments followed calls by DAP vice-chairman M. Kulasegaran for the party to stop the practice of fielding one person for both state and parliamentary seats. He said this should stop to give opportunities for more people to serve the constituents.

Kulasegaran, the Ipoh Barat MP, was reported to have said that holding one seat or serving a single constituency was already a mammoth task, and became more difficult when a person held two elected posts.

Party chairman Karpal Singh was also quoted as saying it was time for the party to move away from this practice as the DAP now had more prospective leaders.

Sugumaran, a former political secretary to Kulasegaran, said that during the Pakatan Rakyat convention last year, a resolution was passed to have at least 30% of its election candidates from the youth and women’s wings.

“How can we achieve the 30% target if youth committee members also sit on the parent body?” he asked.