Explaining why he was vocal with his objections, Thomas Su said he was upset that registration of voters was still being carried out after the “cut-off” time.

Su said he had found out that the late registration was to bring in supporters of a certain “group”, which was improper.

He said that when they continued to ignore his call to stop registering the latecomers, he lost his cool.

“Against my better judgment, I lost my composure and raised my voice, which triggered a war of words between members that snowballed into the incident as reported by the media,” he said in a statement.

“I take responsibility for the incident. I recognise that my actions have tarnished my party’s reputation and my own public image and I hereby do unreservedly express my regret and apologies.”

Su welcomed an investigation into the incident by DAP’s central executive committee, which is the party’s top leadership.

“I believe my hope is in line with what DAP has been striving for – fair and transparent elections,” he said.

About 2,000 delegates from more than 300 DAP branches took part in the convention, held every three years.

Perak DAP chief Nga Kor Ming retained the state chairmanship by garnering 1,228 votes. V Sivakumar received the same number of votes and was made deputy chief.

They were followed by Tebing Tinggi assemblyman Abdul Aziz Bari (1,224 votes) and Sungkai assemblyman A Sivanesan (1,223). Both were appointed vice-chairmen.

Trailing them were Pantai Remis assemblyman Wong May Ing (1,220) and Nga’s cousin, Ngeh Koo Ham (1,216). Ngeh, who is also the Beruas MP, was made Perak DAP adviser.

Su and Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran polled 550 and 540 votes, respectively.

Under the party’s constitution, the 15 top elected candidates will proceed to choose the office bearers, including the posts of chairman, deputy chairman and two vice-chairmen.