This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on 30 November, 2015.

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang DAP convention yesterday heard proposals to change the chief minister, with one delegate saying that the post should go to the state party chairman.

Shamsher Singh Thind of DAP’s Taman Chai Leng branch said if the chief minister’s post was reserved for the party, it should be held by the state party chairman who commanded grassroots support.

Another delegate, K Kristnan, said a chief minister should only serve two terms.

Yesterday, state party chairman Chow Kon Yeow said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, DAP secretary-general, still garnered support and called for unity within the party.

Before the convention began, a group with banners supporting Chow as chief minister turned up at the convention venue, a hotel in Bukit Jambul.

Later, Guan Eng refused to comment on the banners, telling reporters to ask Chow.

The debate on filling the state’s top post came as Penang DAP grapples with the fallout after six state government backbenchers broke ranks over a motion by  opposition party Barisan Nasional at the state assembly more than a week ago.

The BN motion became controversial after a DAP representative voted to support it, while five PKR representatives abstained from voting, saying they were heeding their conscience.

This led Guan Eng to criticise the five, accusing them of betrayal for siding with BN by abstaining from voting.

Shamsher said if Pakatan Harapan representatives were expected to vote against BN motions and could not vote based on conscience, opposition MPs should have then rejected the BN motion in Parliament to raise federal lawmakers’ salaries.

“BN tabled a motion in Parliament to increase the salaries of MPs. Why didn’t any of the Pakatan MPs vote against the motion as well?” he said.

There had been talk of dissatisfaction among grassroots members in Penang over the way DAP handled its Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu, who had voted to support the BN motion on land reclamation.

Teh was the sole DAP rep who broke ranks and supported the motion, but immediately after the assembly adjourned, he told a press conference called by Guan Eng that he made a mistake and apologised.

Last week, he resigned as state organising secretary but said he did not regret his action.

Teh had also been consistently pushing for the chief minister’s term to be limited to two terms.

Another Penang DAP delegate, Lim Cheng Hoe from the Sri Tanjung Bungah branch, proposed that the candidate with the highest number of votes at the party polls be elected state chairman.

“I hope we can bring some change in this convention. Let us elect the chairman [based on] the candidate who wins the most votes.”

Under DAP’s cadre election system, the top 15 winners will meet and decide on appointments for the executive posts. They will also decide on five other members who will be appointed to the state committee. — The Malaysian Insider