MARCH 13 — The country’s most dominant party holds its party election this weekend with no fanfare. Under the radar, like a non-event. Except it is not.
DAP makes up only 40 of the 148 MPs supporting Anwar Ibrahim’s government. The pillar of this government which gravitates away as power-broker, similar to its party election, quiet.
Why so? A combination of wanting to be unnoticed, the obscurity of its selection process and the unintended schizophrenia of being abandoned in its nascent years.
For those under the impression since secretary-general Anthony Loke appears oozing with positivity on the MRT screens daily, and organising secretary Steven Sim buys another downtrodden family a motorcycle, therefore all is fine may find themselves disabused of their premises this Sunday.
No DAP leader, let alone Cabinet ministers, are secure. Not Loke, not anyone.
Consider the last party election in 2022.
Yeo Bee Yin, Tony Pua and Ong Kian Ming ostensibly the next gen to lead were sent packing.
They were unelected to the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and not co-opted into it. Only Yeo remains an MP, brought back from Johor’s Bakri to Puchong.
DAP election primer
Unlike all the other main parties, where top leaders are directly elected, whether by members or delegates, DAP has two stages.
Which fuels the “anything can happen” speculations.
Four thousand two hundred and three delegates are set to show up on March 16 to vote for 30 members of the CEC, with the caveat nine must be women.
Which is why Sabah’s Jannie Lasimbang was elevated into the top 30 despite finishing 35th to meet the female quota in 2022. Bandar Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong, despite 29th, was excluded.
Ranking does not ultimately matter in the conclusion of part one.
In the second part, the 30 have to work out the new leadership. As such, the bloc with the largest number of CEC members runs the table.
As DAP quietly reshuffles its leadership, the outcome could shape the party’s future — and its standing in the unity government. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Regardless of how many votes Loke collects from the delegates, if the makeup of the CEC is more foes than friends, then he is toast.
The two-stage decision-making explains why it’s difficult to explain the chances of the various candidates.
Tactical voting is rife, as factions work out how to best spread the support to accrue the maximum number of CEC members.
Therefore, it is not whether Loke, Gobind Singh, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow finish ahead of each other, but how many of their followers are in the CEC. Those who finish 21st to 30th turn kingmakers. Loke finished behind the two named in 2022 but still ended up secretary-general.
To add oil, party veterans like Tan Kok Wai (Cheras MP since 1995), Fong Kui Lun (seven-time MP) and deputy minister M. Kulasegaran have withdrawn themselves from CEC contention.
It’s harder to guess the potential 30.
For the media, it’s difficult to discuss the candidates.
Only former secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who has been a thorn in the Penang assembly lately to Chow, has expressed a disdain for unwarranted overreach by other unity government partners. The rest are steadfast to keep their cards close to their chests.
Let’s talk about the Lims.
Already Guan Eng’s younger sister Lim Hui Ying is in the CEC with him. Guan Eng ran the party for 18 years, and his dad Lim Kit Siang for almost 30 years. The Lims and DAP are synonymous to most Malaysians.
The party’s oblique election and discontent from the House of Lim ramps up uncertainties around how the delegates and then after the CEC selects itself.
Deep impact
Both MCA and PKR look on.
An implosion would be a dream come true for MCA, having been supplanted as the preferred ethnic Chinese party since 2008.
But realistically, it aims for gains, at least moral ones from the weekend. To aid its claims for electoral presence.
MCA only holds Johor’s Ayer Hitam and Tanjong Piai for now.
Imposed by Umno to stay inside the unity government, its opportunities are dictated by how many Pakatan Harapan seats identified as traditionally Chinese led are released by DAP or PKR to MCA via Barisan Nasional (BN).
In 2023, in the six state elections, MCA ended up contesting no seats since both Pakatan and Umno could not see MCA’s utility.
To enter the negotiations for GE16 with no strength, and then to beg to sustain the two Johor parliaments via assistance from Umno and Pakatan because MCA is weak will be a humiliation beyond shame.
Meanwhile, PKR sees itself as a more multicultural option and if DAP pivots back to Chinese chauvinism followed by setbacks in GE16, it assists Anwar’s party to appeal better to Chinese voters.
DAP’s next direction or reversion can reverberate to GE16 and after.
Everything all at once
Born out of a dream of equality shifted to purely minority communal representation especially for the Chinese from the Seventies onwards, DAP tries to be all things, all at once.
Singapore’s expulsion led to PAP’s Malaysia branch revamped as DAP. It carries a modified name but quickly abandoned its socialism just as its home party abandoned it.
In one moment, it’s practical, denies its own traditional compulsions in order to keep the disjointed government going.
That is in tandem with its two-decade old strategy to up Malay leadership in the party, even if it hardly reflects Malay membership.
There’s a hopeful rather than strategic belief that if enough Malay professional leaders carry the DAP emblem, the majority of Malays will reconsider the party.
The next moment, dances to a different tune.
The traditional wing of the party is alive as evidenced by former Selangor exco Ronnie Liu elected to the CEC in 2022.
It prefers to stick to its communal base rather than alter its Chinese spine. The old guards prefer DAP to adopt multiculturalism only if the Malay parties also do the same.
Why should DAP let go its strengths first when Umno and Bersatu stick to their guns, they ask?
They feel the current batch accommodates too much.
Non-Chinese educated Loke, at ease with a primarily Malay civil service while speaking in the national language, is the face of a progressive DAP.
Guan Eng wants much of that but not at the price of what he reckons is DAP’s identity. This is more attuned to the old members’ voices.
DAP never had the courage to truly question itself and continually dances with two lovers on the dance floor simultaneously.
Mislabelled as socialists 60 years later while being largely communal evolving to multiculturalism with degrees of reluctance to look at its skeleton, DAP is a hodgepodge of old and new depending on who is asking.
In the election lead-up, there is no clear ideological discourse.
Leaders do not provide a brave clear view of their vision for the future. There are no outright rejections, just multiple overtures which neglect contradictions.
Members, more specifically delegates, head to Shah Alam with an unbalanced expectation the old ways can gel with the new ones while DAP chalks up government years.
So, delegates like their leaders have convictions for all commitments to varying degrees. Moods can shift even with hall temperature.
No matter which bloc thrives, Loke is set to continue on top. Though the tone, the level of autonomy to pursue inclusivity and divorce from the past is set to be dictated by the CEC line-up.
The bigger question is whether the uncertainties are great for the party. The cracks may show in the election and manifest quickly in the next general election, even before the next party polls.
Either way, it is their own doing.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
