LETTER | DAP leaders must sincerely reflect

LETTER | The Association for Welfare,Community and Dialogue (ACID) welcomes the statement by DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke that the low turnout rate among non-Malay voters in the Mahkota by-election will be given serious attention.

BN candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah was elected the new assemblyperson for Mahkota by a majority four times larger than BN obtained in 2022. He obtained 27,995 votes, while Perikatan Nasional’s Haizan Jaafar obtained 7,347 votes.

A party source revealed that the voter turnout rate remained low among Chinese (32 percent) and Indian voters (34 percent), while the highest turnout rate (63 percent) was among Malay voters.

Loke pledged that DAP leaders would continue clarifying the direction of the unity government to grassroots members and seek ways to retain their support.

The question is not so much about the DAP clarifying its direction in the unity government as whether it is willing to listen to the grievances of the grassroots community, which are often taken for granted.

When I attended the Perak DAP convention lately, there was murmuring from certain Indians that there was going to be a low turnout among the Indian community.

According to them, the DAP Perak leadership has marginalised leaders who do not concur with them.

The win-all, take-all attitudes do not augur well for the future of the party.

While it can reconcile with its previous enemy, Umno, it is incapable of reaching out to those who dissent in its own party, which reveals hypocrisy at the highest level.

Without grassroots support, the DAP will merely end up as an elite party where its leaders’ lofty pronouncement of the country’s economy does not correspond to the reality of Malaysians who are suffering from high cost of living.

There are also grievances of minorities who are compelled to support the lesser evil in the context of the ethno-religious battle for supremacy and opportunism of Umno, PAS, and Bersatu.

The low voter turnout among non-Malays did not happen only in the Mahkota by-election, but previous by-elections also revealed a similar trend that cannot be taken lightly.

The freedom of conscience in the country is under threat, where issues of a religious nature are not argued or defended rationally, but threats and police reports have become a norm which, in the long term, would muzzle the voice of reason in the country. 

The DAP, as the party of principle that represents Malaysians, should be concerned about the possible abuse of draconian laws such as the Sedition Act on MPs who speak with conscience. 

Therefore, as a first step, the DAP should go nationwide, reach out to all its leaders and members who are dissenting within the party, and develop a common position on critical issues.

Secondly, it should address some of the rational grievances of minority communities, such as the Indian community, that have yet to be resolved to date while also elaborating on the reality of the party position in the federal coalition government and what can be done and cannot be done.

It is hoped that the Loke could address the basic grievances in the party where winners-take-all attitudes are prevalent and real issues facing the communities, such as the cost of living and social justice.

The party’s vision should start from the grassroots, not through an elite vision that is not grounded in reality.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.