SHAH ALAM: DAP will relax the conditions on its elected representatives to receive awards or honours from sultans or state governors.
Its secretary-general, Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the Central Executive Committee (CEC) would determine the conditions for each award offer.
He said the matter would be looked at on a case-by-case basis and would need to be presented first at the CEC level.
“I know this matter has been a hot issue for sometime. Previously, we had that policy but now after almost 17 years in various state and central governments, we certainly have to look back at this condition in our policy.
“It cannot be too strict because there are times when a sultan bestowed honourary titles on our elected representatives, for example, the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah openly said that he would bestow the honourary title of ‘Datuk’ on Sekinchan assemblyman, Ng Suee Lim because he has served five terms (as an elected representative),“ he said.
He said this in his policy speech in conjunction with the 18th DAP National Congress at Shah Alam IDCC Convention Centre in Section 15, today, which was also attended by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also the chairman of Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Also present were DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng, PH secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Amanah president Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu, UPKO president Datuk Ewon Benedick and PKR vice-president Senator K. Saraswathy.
Meanwhile, Loke said DAP would create a mechanism to evaluate election candidates that would represent the party more systematically and transparently in dealing with any internal party issues in the future.
Through the mechanism, he said, those who want to contest, especially as candidates, would know the evaluation carried out on an individual.
“Let everyone know why they were chosen or not chosen with this evaluation system. Of course, the top leadership must make decisions based on an evaluation system that all parties must accept,“ he said.
Meanwhile, Loke also proposed to institutionalise the Candidate Selection Committee in the party constitution so that it could give legitimacy to the selection committee.
Loke said all the amendments would not be implemented today and needed to be discussed and debated in finding the best mechanism within 18 months from now.
“This is among the work that needs to be completed by the top executive and the new Central Executive Committee (CEC) and bring back (the results) for the amendment of the party constitution in the party’s National Convention in 2026,“ he said.
In addition, Loke proposed several new positions to be included in the party constitution, namely the position of DAP Parliamentary Leader who must be appointed from among non-members of the administration, strategic director, policy director and election director.
According to Loke, it is also proposed that the DAP Wanita chief be appointed as a permanent member of the Candidate Selection Committee in addition to the implementation of at least 30 per cent female candidates in the 16th general election (GE16).
