ROUND-UP: The DAP with PKR and Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) needs the support of at least half of the Malay community across the nation to unseat the present Barisan Nasional (BN) government and to take over Putrajaya.
This would account for about 60 per cent of the electorate.
To achieve this, DAP leaders agree that they must stop relying on its allies in Pakatan Harapan to win over Malay Muslim support, as the party battles bad perception among the community presently.
The party must also create a new narrative of inclusive politics for all communities and put to rest Malay Muslim suspicions, if it truly wanted to be a mainstream party.
DAP political education director Liew Chin Tong said the party must stand to address directly Malay Muslim fears and suspicions towards it, instead of relying on others to do so.
“DAP needs to directly engage Malays to create a new narrative so that the party can be accepted,” the Kluang MP told The Malaysian Insider recently.
The new narrative or outlook of the DAP would be about how all communities – Sarawakians, Sabahans, Malays, Chinese and Indians, in the country – can benefit fairly from its economy.
“We need a big narrative to allay their fears and unite everyone under a national mission to defeat Umno, which is the source of all our current problems,” said Liew.
On Jan 7, think tank Institut Darul Ehsan said anger towards the DAP among Malay Muslims, especially in rural areas, was increasing, thanks to Umno’s consistent campaign to demonise the Chinese-dominated party.
The animosity intensified after the break-up of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in June, when the DAP parted ways with former ally PAS, the country’s second largest Malay party.
Other DAP leaders such as parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang have echoed Liew’s views, saying the party should step up efforts to communicate well with rural Malays.
Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said Malay sentiment towards the party was better in constituencies which they governed as well as in Penang, as they (the Malays) have seen the benefits of the party’s non-racial policies.
The leaders also said that rural Malay sentiment was negative because much of the information in these areas came from the pro-Umno media.
Liew admitted that propaganda from Umno and PAS against DAP, which was tied to race and religion, had been effective.
“But times have changed and I am confident that if Pakatan Harapan can be the new iPhone of politics or the new politics by building a new market, new demands and new narrative, we can together face this propaganda,” said Liew.
DAP organising secretary Anthony Loke said there was a constant debate in the party on how to increase Malay Muslim support.
“DAP has long realised the importance of Malay support,” Loke said, adding that the party also realised how the Malay electorate was growing faster than the Chinese community.
“We have always faced attacks from Umno but now that PAS is also doing it, it is becoming more serious,” said the Seremban MP.
Constitutional law expert Aziz Bari said he had prepared a proposal to the party’s leaders on how to win over Malay support.
He said DAP should tackle Malay sensitivities in order to gain their trust and become a mainstream party.
Wining over Putrajaya or to form a new government simply means doing the right thing for Malaysia and its people and should not be a struggle for power.
DAP’s intention may be seen as a positive move to stop any untoward incidents driven by racial propaganda but the alliance member who holds a portion of Malay support in Pakatan Harapan has been questioned on their true allegiance.
MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong, commenting on the imbroglio surrounding the new yet not-so-new opposition pact this time rebranded as Pakatan Harapan, questioned whether PAN was really divorced from PAS and hudud?
“I am shocked to see Pakatan Rakyat (PR) which previously had combined to be three-in-one and is now divorced in the context of sometimes nikah (marriage) and sometimes talak 3 (divorce)!”
He elaborated: “In Selangor, there is still an alliance between DAP and PAS. Is this sandiwara (play) reality? I also don’t know,” said a stumped Ka Siong.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department remarked that from what he observed, PAN’s struggle within Pakatan Harapan is ambiguous for now. Do they hold unto PAS’ struggle or are moderate in outlook, this is questionable.”
Ka Siong explained that in Selangor, PAN said that they were moderate but in Kelantan, they said they support hudud. In other states, they said something else and yet they have formed a task force to study hudud.
As the newly established PAN and the in-fighting between PAS and DAP seem to have divided the opposition, Ka Siong urged the Pakatan Harapan to clarify their stand on who and what do they represent.
“I don’t know what they have promised the Malays, but all must be clarified transparently,” he said, adding that the perception towards PAN was something they must solve within themselves. -The Ant Daily
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