Update: In the time since posting, Karpal and Ramasamy have amicably resolved their split by Lim Guan Eng’s meeting with Karpal. That Karpal and Ramasamy have not in fact resolved anything, or that no one has met with Ramasamy, appears to be unimportant to Guan Eng, who of course blames the entire spat on the “BN-controlled media.” Kudos to DAP for once again sweeping a spat under the rug.
Some days, it does not pay to be Dr Ramasamy Palanasamy. Actually, these days, most days could be described that way.
The Deputy Chief Minister for Penang has made quite a splash these last few months, going head-to-head with DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh in the so-called “warlords versus Godfather” dispute, which began with the famous misquotation of Ramasamy in a Tamil daily.
Instead of getting on the phone to discuss the matter, Karpal went to war, and the former professor turned politician gladly returned fire. Then came the allegations that Ramasamy was organising demonstrations against DAP at the party convention.
And then it really got ugly.
As DAP is wont to do, the matter was quickly referred to a disciplinary committee (but not before Karpal demanded that Ramasamy be cashiered as DCM), and DAP went about pretending the whole thing had never happened.
The committee in charge of the thing that never happened has announced that Ramasamy has been cleared of any wrongdoing for the thing that never happened. Karpal is outraged, and claims that the panel was inherently biased and conflicted, and that its result was void “ab initio” (from the very beginning).
It bears noting that he had pressed to push the matter to a disciplinary committee in the first place.
Karpal’s proxies are trying to appeal the whitewashing. Ramasamy himself is now suing The Star for only a tenth of the apparently-customary-in-Pakatan amount of RM100 million, apparently for reporting his words at a press conference.
(Perhaps he believes The Star only committed a minor defamation? Perhaps it was only one tenth of what it could have been?)
The feud between Karpal and Batu Kawan MP Ramasamy now jeopardises DAP’s ability to hold its crown jewel of Penang as the factions drive away the Indian vote on which their two-thirds majority rests.
Ramasamy’s appointees are being struck from prominent Indian NGO boards in Penang, perhaps as a sop to Karpal. Karpal did not appear at a big DAP fundraiser, chaired by Lim Guan Eng, with Ramasamy present… and Karpal’s face on fundraising posters everywhere.
And Ramasamy? Whether he was legitimately cleared or the record merely whitewashed, his exoneration appears to be nothing less than more of DAP’s tendency to use un-democratic means of internal governance — most recently on display in suspending elections to keep Guan Eng as Secretary-General for another term, and perhaps for life.
DAP has also approved the one-man one-seat rule, with a specific exception for Guan Eng. By no small coincidence, Karpal’s measure will also strike Ramasamy.
Though the truth of Karpal’s assertions against the disciplinary committee is still unproven, the thrust of his commentary is correct: No one believes that Ramasamy has legitimately been cleared. DAP leadership is clearly desperately trying to preserve the status quo ante, to keep the Indian vote in Penang — that Guan Eng somewhat ridiculously pegs at 90 per cent for DAP — on-board. DAP may be taking the Indian vote for granted.
The damage done by this absurd affair is hard to calculate, not least because it appears to be continuing.
While Karpal deserves more than his share of blame for blowing this matter into every media outlet of every political persuasion and keeping it alive in the wake of the disciplinary committee’s findings, the ultimate blame must rest with Ramasamy.
Penang DAP, the party’s stronghold, is now in chaos with a general election around the corner, and the former academic’s ill-chosen words and combativeness set it all in motion.
Ramasamy is not a winner. He is a loser who has been saved by higher powers who need him for just a bit longer. Do not be surprised if he is dropped like a hot rock after the dust of GE13 clears.