DAP's family dominated hierarchy is causing deep seated conflicts

What most reporters and political observers know in Sibu is that local DAP leaders are an unhappy lot.

They are upset that the party’s central committee are descending on Sibu like it is their own place and treating the local machinery like drivers and office boys. The dissent is obvious but there is nothing that they can do about it.

The turf war within DAP is typically vicious because the party is basically run by family clans, just like the Gee Hin and Hai San gangster clans in Taiping.

Kit Siang, daughter in law Betty

and son Guan Eng visiting a pig farm

At the top of the nepotistic hierarchy is the Lim Family with Karpal Sing and his boys playing faithful sidekick and comic relief. Then there is the Nga-Ngeh cousins ruinning Perak.

In Sarawak there is fight between the Chong and Voon family units.

Chong

The Chong clan, through their scion Chong Cheng Jien, is plotting to take control of the whole Sarawak state DAP and they have shown just how ruthless they can be when they suspended the membership of Batu Lintang State Assemblyman Voon Lee Shan for six months after he exposed the shenanigans within Sarawak DAP recently.

The disagreement had long festered after the Chongs were seen trying to replace Voon as Batu Lintang State Representative with their man Wong Kok Wei.

Chong Cheng Jien’s arrogance after winning his seat has made him unbearable for many Sarawak DAP diehards.

Voon

He has been accused of using his family's position within the party to manipulate DAP Kuching with the help of his Father Chong Siew Chian, who is the Sarawak DAP vice chairman and mother Sim Yew Sir, secretary of the Pending DAP branch.

With their clans man and woman in the key strategic posts within DAP Kuching, Chong decided to kick Voon out of the party hierarchy and this came to a head in the 2008 DAP National Convention.

The Voon faction succeeded in having Richard Wong replaced as one of the national Vice Presidents and this brought Wong to the Chong fold and an alliance was forged between the two. They are now staunch opposers of Voon.

The Voon vs Chong&Wong fight is expected to continue for the foreseeable future as Voon is still in control of Batu Lintang and Pending branches.

This rift within Sarawak DAP may cause serious problem in Sibu as it compounds the already tense relationship between Sibu DAP warlords and the party's national leaders who treat them like lackeys rather than equal partners