KUALA LUMPUR, 6 JAN: The error in the recent DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) election results is a salutary lesson and reminder to all DAP leaders to always remain honest and humble.

DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang said that DAP leaders must be guided by the wisdom of the saying “honesty is the best policy” if they are to continue to command the trust and confidence of Malaysians.

Despite the sorrow, he said, no DAP leader had suggested a cover-up of the blunder and it was a united decision to tell the truth to the party and the public, although DAP had to face the negative reactions.

He added that the DAP Central Working Committee and CEC were aware that the blunder was deeply embarrassing and would subject the DAP to a ferocious and merciless political and media onslaught, twisting the distorting the issue with baseless insinuations and allegations.

“Our political antagonists may see this as a weakness for them to try to exploit and divide the party.

“But this is in fact a strength where the DAP leadership is prepared to own up to and rectify its mistakes however embarrassing they might be because we believe in humility and  ‘honesty is the best policy’,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The error in the DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) election results involved votes for candidate Zairil Khir Johari and Vincent We Him Ven. Zairil actually garnered 803 votes (instead of 305 announced on Dec 15) and Wu received 669 votes (instead of 1,202 announced on Dec 15).

After rectifying the error, Zairil was placed in the 20^th position while Wu 26^th position. There are 20 positions for DAP CEC, and the CEC can co-opt 10 more members to sit in the committee.

Kit Siang explained that the blunder did not arise from any vote counting, as Zairil and Wu’s votes were properly counted and tabulated as 803 and 669 votes respectively.

He said it was a computer error resulting in the votes for the  last eight candidates (i.e. No. 61 – 68) also being posted with the same votes as those of Candidates Number 31 to 38, as follows, viz:

“As a result, Wu (No. 63) was posted with the votes of No. 33 (i.e. 1,202 votes) and Zairil’s (No. 65) was posted with the votes of No. 36, (i.e. 305 votes) when the actual tabulation should have been 669 for Wu and 803 for Zairil based on the ballots cast and counted at the DAP National Congress.

“There was no element of fraud, manipulation or dishonesty in vote counting and tabulation process,” he added. – The Rocket