CAT rips off DAP’s outlook
The party has lost much of the clean, accountable and transparent image it has been trying to build over the last 40 years.
Baradan Kuppusamy, The Star
SOMETHING has changed in the way voters now perceive DAP, arguably the strongest of the three parties in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition which is selling itself as a government-in-waiting.
Perception is everything in politics and voter perception of DAP, once deemed to be a clean, transparent and accountable party, has now taken a hit in the wake of two scandals hogging the headlines in recent weeks.
The scandals – a Kelantan land controversy involving two Perak DAP leaders and an election fiasco that saw a defeated Malay candidate elevated as a winner – have shaken the party to its core with even members beginning to question the party’s credentials.
While the election fiasco can be explained as a “technical error”, the land scandal involving over 10,000ha of reforestation, is more difficult to explain because of the public perception that a small man’s party should not be involved in land deals.
The land scandal has hit the party hard because, as one member puts it, new towkays are beginning to take root in a party that had fought for – and always represented – the simple man.
While party elders – adviser Lim Kit Siang and chairman Karpal Singh – have openly admitted the election fiasco and blamed it on a technical error in computing, critics argue that the “technical error” is a convenient ruse to “elect” a Malay candidate – Zairil Khir Johari – to the CEC after the entire slate of eight Malay candidates were wiped out in the Dec 15 party election.
“The election foul-up saw votes being realigned, with some leaders getting more votes and others getting less. In the process, a Malay candidate who initially lost was later declared a winner.
“It’s hard to buy this because the party has a long experience and prides itself as being open on election matters,” said a Selangor DAP member, who is a lawyer.
“It is a simple process of counting 1,800 votes for the first 20 winning candidates,” the member said, requesting anonymity because of a gag order on all members.
“Another fact is, although the foul-up was known to leaders almost immediately, it took them nearly three weeks to bring it to the attention of the CEC. This delay is inexcusable and is the reason there is now so much speculation.”
One frequently asked question is, how could such a foul-up happen when the party had conducted elections for over four decades without anybody questioning the results?
“This is the first time in DAP history and its embarrassing,” admitted Karpal, but this is not enough for the party grassroots who want the leaders to explain the foul-up.
The Kelantan land controversy, involving Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and state secretary Ngar Kor Ming, is equally weighing on the minds of members as the party gears up for the big electoral battle ahead.
More than the election fiasco, the land scandal will surely test the voters’ patience with the party and its CAT (competency, accountability and transparency) credentials.
The two party stalwarts, who are elected CEC members, were found involved, with other shareholders, in a venture involving nearly 10,000ha of reforestation land.
Their involvement is legal but public perception has it that they should not have been involved in the scheme.
“Are we transparent and accountable or are we doing the same thing that the people had rejected?” asked a Perak DAP leader who requested anonymity.
Perak DAP is already badly divided between the Ngeh-Nga faction on one side, and a faction led by Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran on the other.
Kulasegaran triumphed in the contest despite not having the Foochowsand their supporters openly backing him, said an insider.
“In the general election, their fight will divide DAP and give Barisan Nasional a chance to retain the state,” the insider added.
Given the long years DAP has existed and the fact that it is part of a government-in-waiting with other allies, it is inexcusable for DAP to make such an election counting blunder and later offer excuses party members perceive as lame.
Nor is it advisable for two of the party important lawmakers in Perak to involve themselves in land deals that the public perceive as not entirely above board.
On both scores – the land controversy and the election fiasco – DAP has blundered badly, especially among the urban and upward mobile voters who are unhappy with how matters have turned out with the party.
