Father-son duo clinch seats in Malaysia's opp party

KUALA LUMPUR: Father-son duo have been elected to Malaysia's opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP). DAP chairman Karpal Singh came in ninth, polling 471 votes while his MP son Gobind Singh Deo obtained 305 votes to clinch the last spot in DAP's central working committee (CEC), media reports said here.

Urging party members at the 15th DAP National Congress here yesterday to be united Karpal said, "Every political party has its own differences but we must ride above them and rise to the occasion."

"Only one man can bring these two parties together and he is Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He can be the middleman," the Star Malaysia quoted Karpal as saying.

DAP's old gun Lim Kit Siang garnered the most votes with a whopping 624-vote mandate out of the 739 delegates. His son, and party secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng came in close with 620 votes, cementing the father and son tag team, reports said.

Lim Guan said the party was backing Anwar as the alternative Prime Minister. "We endorse Anwar and are committed to cooperation among the Pakatan Rakyat parties," he said, adding that the DAP was sticking by its secular state policy and would reject any proposal to turn Malaysia into a theocratic state.