COMMENT | DAP disappoints by retaining Guan Eng

COMMENT | Ahead of nomination day on Nov 5, some of the selection of candidates by DAP, especially for parliamentary seats, are rather puzzling and disappointing with some established names being summarily dropped and others retained. Others have on the surface withdrawn their candidatures with little reason.

But perhaps the greatest disappointment of them all is the retention of former DAP secretary-general and current chairperson Lim Guan Eng in Bagan who may lose his seat even if he wins because he faces charges in court.

On Aug 9, 2020 Guan Eng claimed trial to a charge at the Butterworth Sessions Court for allegedly using his position at the time for personal gratification of RM3.3 million in relation to the undersea tunnel project. The charge was made after Pakatan Harapan lost power.

If he is found guilty, the sentence meted out is likely to disqualify him from his position as MP if he wins at Bagan at GE15. This is not the first time he is being charged with a corruption offence.

On Sept 11, 2020, he was charged in the Sessions Court in Butterworth with wrongfully misappropriating two plots of land to two developers in Penang when he was the chief minister of Penang.

Lim was charged with "wrongfully misappropriating" the land in question, worth some RM135 million to a developer, Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd on Feb 17, 2015, at the Land and Mines Department at Komtar.

Previously, after he became finance minister under Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pakatan Harapan cabinet, a case was withdrawn against him. The High Court in Penang on Sept 3, 2018, freed Guan Eng from two graft charges over the alleged conversion of state land status and purchase of a bungalow at below market value.

Given the court cases, he faces currently, it would certainly serve DAP and Pakatan Harapan better if Guan Eng...