Twitter posting: I'm prepared to be sacked, says Teng

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:07

By Teoh El Sen

VIDEO INSIDE SHAH ALAM: Selangor Speaker Teng Chang Khim today said he is prepared to be sacked over his controversial twitter posting on the dismissal of Klang municipal councillor Tee Boon Hock.

He said he would not attend the DAP disciplinary committee hearing if he is hauled up in his capacity as speaker or chairman of the Selangor Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat).

However, Teng said he would appear if he was called in as a party member.

Teng is scheduled to appear before the committee on Aug 12 over his posting that said "OMG! Real culprit freed", said to be in reference to the sacking of Tee.

DAP disciplinary committee chairman Tan Kok Wai had said Teng’s tweet was “tantamount to questioning the credibility of the disciplinary committee, to mean that it has acted unfairly and unprofessionally by prosecuting the innocent”.

“This time the Selcat chairman will be summoned by the party discliplinary committee to clarify the matter,” Tan said.

In response, Teng said: "I cannot be attending as a speaker or Selcat chairman. I have a duty to uphold the dignity of the state legislative assembly... As a government servant, I cannot be answerable to any political party be it PKR, DAP or PAS."

"But I will attend if they call me as a party member," Teng said.

'Tan acted unprofessisonally'

Teng said Tan had acted "unprofessionally" when the latter asked him to attend as Selcat chairman.

"I do not know where Tan studied his law... Every decision should be open to criticism. We even questioned the Federal Court's decision in the Nizar vs Zambry case. So even this decision to sack Tee is open to appeal at the central executive committee level. Tee can also make a further appeal at party congress."

On the meaning of his "OMG" tweet, Teng, who is a DAP central executive committee member, said he will "reserve the explanation for his defence" when he is called to the disciplinary committee.

“I will be be punished if I openly talked about it in the media,” he added.

"I have the highest respect for the disciplinary committee. I cannot disclose this through the press. But I'm getting two more witnesses to back me up on the timing of the tweets," he said, without elaborating.

Teng, the Sungai Pinang state assemblyman, also questioned why Tan had informed him of the disciplinary committee's decision through the media and not directly to him.

On a subsequent posting in his twitter “Tweet in shiver, I think my days are numbered”, indicating the end of his political career, Teng said: "Don't you think this is serious? This is all over the news and if you get in trouble, naturally your days would be numbered."

Watch video:

Tan: Called in as a party member

In an immediate reaction Tan clarified that Teng was being called to attend the displinary hearing in his capacity as a party member and not as state speaker or Selcat chairman.

On Saturday, Tan's committee sacked Klang councillor Tee for allegedly misusing state exco member Ronnie Liu's letterhead to secure contracts for his family and cronies. Tee had denied these allegations, claiming a presence of a conspiracy to remove him from the party.

The disciplinary committee will also be questioning Liu on Aug 12.

This latest saga in Selangor DAP is believed to be linked to the long ongoing rift between Teng and Liu. The latter is touted to be a strongman for party supremo Lim Kit Siang.

Teng is seen as a renegade within the party but the party accepts that he has considerable influence in Selangor. Liu was previously alleged to have been instructed by Lim to "keep an eye" on Teng in Selangor.