The undemocratic Democratic Action Party
What’s the point of holding party elections? The real power in the party is held by a few families who continue to influence who runs the party. Who the membership actually vote for is just disregarded.
Murray Hunter
Political parties are dominated by warlords
The DAP state party elections over the weekend showed just how the DAP is controlled by ‘warlords’ and not the party membership.
Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh narrowly defeated the Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim to the No. 1 spot in the party vote. Ramkarpal Singh obtained 1,247 votes to Sim’s 1.237. Within an hour of the votes being put up on the telly board, the news broke out that Steven Sim would be the next Penang Party Chairman.
Something happened during that hour where the warlords of the DAP persuaded Ramkarpal Singh to forgo the Penang DAP chairmanship.
A similar situation occurred in the Selangor DAP party elections back in 2025. Gobind Deo topped the polls, and Tony Pua came in 8th position, but was reappointed as Selangor Chairman.
What’s the point of holding party elections? The real power in the party is held by a few families who continue to influence who runs the party. Who the membership actually vote for is just disregarded.
These practices are not just limited to the DAP. UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his deputy Mohamed Hasan escaped any election for their positions after the last general election in the name of keeping stability.
PKR is just the same, where ‘leaders’ are parachuted into vice president positions after party elections have been held.
Malaysian political parties have a total disregard for party democracy. Its very evident that party memberships don’t really exercise any sovereignty in their respective parties. Malaysian political parties are nothing more than platforms for political warlords.
Before there can be any reform in Malaysia, the political parties themselves must be democratic.
