Will it be Kit Siang’s last battle?
Lim Kit Siang told the recent DAP retreat that the next general election will be his last while Tan Sri Muhyiddin declared Umno as ‘dead and in the past’.
Joceline Tan, The Star
IT is an open secret that DAP leader Lim Kit Siang is headed for Penang this general election.
He has been seen in Penang more often than in his Gelang Patah constituency in Johor the past few months and also at a string of official state government events.
During the Chinese New Year gathering in George Town hosted by Tourism Malaysia, Kit Siang was seated at the VIP table that included Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, his wife and their young son. It was one of those pictures that speak a thousand words.
Recently, a leading Chinese vernacular newspaper featured an entire page of photographs of Kit Siang at a walkabout in Teluk Kumbar, in the Balik Pulau constituency.
It immediately led to speculation that he was eyeing the Balik Pulau seat. But that is a rather Malay seat and he is unlikely to risk it all at this sunset hour of his career and when his son needs him around to help hold the party together.
“I’m not sure where he will be contesting this election but it is clear that he will not be in Gelang Patah,” said a DAP politician.
Kit Siang has kept those plans close to his chest but he dropped a bombshell of sorts at the three-day DAP retreat last week when he said the next general election would be his “last battle”. It sounded like another do-or-die thing that DAP is so fond of.
However, he apparently said it with some fervour and DAP rising star Anthony Loke, who was moderating the session, described it as an unprecedented announcement. Loke noted that this was the first time that Kit Siang, who likes to keep people guessing, had revealed his intentions so loud and clear.
Had he announced something like this several years ago, there would have been an outcry in his party with members begging him to reconsider.
But really, what else could he say? He is 76, just two years short of when his new BFF Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad called it a day as prime minister.
The creases on his face are like a roadmap of his long political journey and he will be at the ripe old age of 81 at the end of the next electoral term.
No genuinely democratic party has candidates in their 80s and no Malaysian politician has contested as many elections as Kit Siang. In that sense, the announcement was also quite a strategic move to quell any back talk about overstaying.
He should be able to win in any Chinese-majority seat in Penang but as some have noticed, news of his impending second coming has not received the same rapturous response as his first time in the 1980s.
DAP is the most stable party in Pakatan Harapan but party leaders are under pressure to make further inroads while holding on to what they have – 38 parliamentary seats and 103 state seats.
The Chinese support remains a fixed deposit for them. The Chinese vote will also be very important in carrying parties like Amanah and PKR which are struggling with the Malay vote.
DAP accused Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak of being racial when he spoke of a Chinese tsunami in the 2013 general election.
But DAP strategist and Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong has been talking about a Malay tsunami that will wipe out Barisan Nasional in the next general election.
It is unclear where the Malay tsunami will come from especially now that PAS has eloped with Umno.
The tactic of wooing token Malay personalities to their party each general election is losing traction and rather old politics. It needs to find new ways to prove that it is making headway with the Malays in order to quash its anti-Islam and anti-Malay image.
DAP seems to have given up on Amanah in delivering the Malay vote. The fact that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was invited to address the DAP retreat on its final day suggests that it is now placing its hopes on Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
It was a new experience for both sides because just a couple of years ago, DAP supporters had painted Muhyiddin as a racist and practically destroyed the former deputy prime minister on Facebook over his “Malay first, Malaysian second remark”.
All that is now in the past, the Parti Pribumi president is now their leading man in Johor. This is their best chance to capture Johor and they are relying on him to move the Malay ground.
Muhyiddin knew the DAP crowd still doubted his commitment and he told them: “Don’t ever dream that I will go back because Umno is ‘already dead, and in the past’.”
They also wanted to know his stand on the Chinese schools’ UEC or United Examination Certificate and his “Malay first” remark.
He said he had never been an extremist and asked them to study his policies during his time as Johor Mentri Besar and a minister for proof of that.
As for Chinese school policies, he said the ministry invited Dong Zong for discussions but the Chinese education group did not respond.
DAP is not comfortable with Parti Pribumi’s ongoing talks with PAS and delegates at the retreat wanted to know how long the talks would go on. Muhyiddin’s reply suggested that he will continue to engage PAS for as long as it takes.
Kit Siang has overstayed in politics, but who else but he could have brought Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin to DAP’s side?
It is no small feat to convert these two former Umno leaders from foes to friends. These politicians are living proof that politics is the art of the possible. They used to hate DAP but they are now feted as special guests at DAP gatherings.
The next general election may be the last for Kit Siang but can his party really do without him?
