DAP yet to gain trust of Malays
The DAP saw in Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim as the best hope of reaching out to the Malays. But when he quit the party, the party’s multi-racial image took a beating.
Zainal Epi, Free Malaysia Today
DAP was desperate when it offered Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim a senior fellowship in an institute in Penang with a stipend of RM50,000.
The offer, revealed by Tunku Aziz in an interview with a mainstream newspaper, reflects the party’s intention to hold on to “whatever is left” to woo the Malays into the party.
More importantly, the party wants to be seen as multi-racial.
Tunku Aziz’s decision to “abandon” the party after falling out with the central leadership and his criticism of party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, whom he called ill-mannered or “biadap”, has thrown a different light on the party in general.
Guan Eng’s offer, which can be described as bribery to get Tunku Aziz to stay on, revealed that DAP, despite all its brave talk about fighting corruption and abuse of power, is willing to forgo all its idealism. This indeed has put the party in a “bad light”.
In its desperation to retain the only Malay leader that is credible in the eyes of Malays and non-Malays alike, the party is willing to stoop so low as to abuse its power in making an offer in an institution in Penang to accommodate its wishes.
The party is also willing to get the institution to pay as much as RM50,000 just to please Tunku Aziz if he stays.
Ramli Idrus, who is a former political secretary to DAP strongman Lim Kit Siang, and is now an Umno member, said: “This is an unhealthy political culture.”
“Needless to say, there appears to be an element of corruption in the DAP’s lavish offers to runaways,” he said.
Whatever it is, the DAP is trying to control the damage done by Guan Eng’s rashness to dangle the “carrot” before Tunku Aziz.
And in doing so, the party has shown that it can disregard its principles by making a lavish offer without considering whether it is a “bribe or incentive”.
Chauvinistic tag
In the 1980s, the DAP which had the late Fadzlan Yahya as its assemblyman for Pasir Berdamar, Perak, has never bother to project itself as a multi-racial party. Malaysians in general accepted the party as it was.
However, with the changing political landscape and the maturity of the multi-racial voters, DAP needs to change accordingly. Sticking to its chauvinistic tag would not attract the educated Chinese and Malaysians in general.
Getting recognition from the Malays is very important so that the party would not be tagged as racist. With the migration of the Malays to urban areas, DAP finds its influence among the Chinese being diluted. But thanks to the weaknesses of MCA, the party is still being looked upon by the Chinese voters as fighting for their interests.
