We’re no threat to opposition coalition, says DAP

By Chris Lee Chun Kit

I read with great interest the article by PKR’s MP for Selayang William Leong (the author) entitled “Will DAP’s rise lead to Pakatan’s downfall?”  published recently on freemalaysiatoday.com.

While the overall message of working closer together is something that should be encouraged by all sides, there are some points in this article that should be clarified properly.

In the article, it was mentioned that:

“DAP is in substance a Chinese-based party expanding into mixed non-Malay seats. By taking away the non-Malay seats from PKR and Amanah, their essential nature of being multi-racial parties is eroded.

“DAP’s demand, in effect, is for these parties to cede their non-Malay seats, consequently their non-Malay leadership, elected representatives, members and support base to DAP.

“DAP is pushing PKR and Amanah into becoming Malay political parties. By doing so, DAP is pushing Pakatan into adopting the failed BN model.”

First of all, be fair to the DAP. As what was observed at the recent Sarawak Elections, DAP was willing to give up Batu Kitang (59% Chinese) to the PKR in return for five Bumiputera majority seats where the chances of winning for the DAP was much slimmer.

This was due to DAP’s willingness to share the burden of contesting fairly across the board together with our coalition partners. How does that then reflect the author’s views that the DAP is pushing PKR and Amanah into becoming Malay political parties?

In another part of the article, the author mentions:

“Although DAP seeks to address this stigma by appointing Malay leaders and having elected representatives, it is an uphill task. There is no chance of winning Malay hearts and minds if one cannot even get past the door.

“DAP needs to be sensitive that expansion by them, their ascendancy and assertiveness is seen as dominance in Pakatan. It validates Umno’s rhetoric that Pakatan’s Malay leaders are DAP puppets who have sold out to the Chinese. PKR and PAS leaders’ credibility before Malay eyes are severely and irreparably damaged. DAP’s victories sow the seeds of Pakatan’s defeat.”

The DAP understands that and in Penang, the Pakatan Harapan Penang Government has done its best to prove its sincerity through its policies that helps all Penangites regardless of race and religion.

While it is true that we can not erase 60 years of racial and religious politics overnight, it is important that we start working towards that by showing that a government can be just and have the ability to help all to economic success.

I hope the author understands that the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) policies are to keep the majority ethnic groups downtrodden and poor in order to maintain their domination over them.

The BN knows that if all ethnic groups of Malaysia become independent of their help, then they will unite and realise that there is no need for racial politics anymore and the BN would become irrelevant.

If the DAP does not try to reach out to areas outside their traditional strongholds, then it will be accused as being in accordance to the author’s arguments earlier that the DAP is pushing PKR and Amanah into becoming Malay parties by demanding non-Malay seats.

But when it does, the author then accuses the DAP of causing Pakatan Malay leaders to be seen as DAP puppets. There are clear contradictions to the author’s arguments here.

“For the 14GE, Hadi Awang, recognising this, steered PAS out of Pakatan to work with Umno. PKR and Amanah have kept the faith. They are however, painfully aware that unless fundamental changes are made in Pakatan to attract Malay votes, DAP’s ascendancy hangs like an albatross over their heads to win Malay support.”

To say that Hadi Awang went to work with Umno solely by blaming the DAP is unfair. Hadi Awang obviously had his own plans in mind already before the breakup took place.

Months of inconsistency in decision-making and his often veto-ing of Pakatan joint policies were obvious signs that his heart was already elsewhere.

The DAP was willing to work with partners that can sit down, negotiate and compromise and when a final decision is made, stick to it as trust is important in a coalition.

PAS was agreeing to joint policies and then going back on their word to the point of contesting seats forcing three-way contests when it had already agreed to cede them to PKR in the 13th General Election. Seriously, are all these incidents the fault of the DAP?

“DAP can win all the non-Malay majority seats but these are not enough to form the government. By achieving dominance in Pakatan Harapan, the DAP is winning the battle but Pakatan will lose the war. The racial tensions and ugly reality of our ethnic divisions must be dealt with in a practical manner, otherwise the cracks in Pakatan may lead to permanent fissure.”

Why is the DAP being accused of trying to achieve dominance in Pakatan Harapan? The DAP has been open to working with coalition partners and even agreed for Anwar Ibrahim to be its Prime Minister designate, the DAP did not interfere in PKR’s Menteri Besar crisis in Selangor and even accepted Azmin Ali’s appointment as MB for coalition unity.

The bottom line is the DAP has been consistent with its principles and have always done its best to even campaign for its coalition partners, and the domination of Pakatan Harapan was never in the DAP’s goals. The goal was to defeat the BN together.

Working together to make Pakatan Harapan a success is a must but it is time to stop the blame game.

The DAP will do its best to keep its side of the promises made in the coalition. We hope our coalition partners will do the same as there is no Pakatan Harapan without our coalition partners.

Again, it is time to stop the blame game, especially blaming the DAP for any failure in the perception game. If we go in as a coalition, we must take collective responsibility as one.

Chris Lee Chun Kit is a city councillor with the Penang Island City Council (Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang) representing the DAP.

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