Sim expresses concern for DAP's crisis management skills

Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him has expressed concern about the ability of his former party, DAP, to handle crises.

Commenting on the reported quitting of 182 Malacca DAP members, Sim warned that more may quit the party.

"I sincerely hope this thing doesn't become too big to handle, I seriously hope they (DAP) look (into it), something must be there, the unhapppiness.

"If this crisis is small and they still can't handle it... then what if there's a bigger crisis?" Sim told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby today.

He added that he was still receiving calls from people saying that they too wanted to quit DAP.

Last week, 182 Malacca DAP members were reported to have quit the party, just a month after Sim and three Malacca DAP assemblypersons left the party.

However, the DAP leadership downplayed the issue, saying it appeared that only 20 members had left.

Sim, together with assemblypersons Goh Leong San (Duyong), Lim Jak Wong (Bachang) and Chin Choong Seong (Kesidang), resigned from the party on Feb 12, citing disappointment with DAP's alleged deviation from its socialist ideology and original struggle for a 'Malaysian Malaysia'.

They received flak for abandoning the party ahead of the next general election.

However, Sim denied inciting the 182 to leave the party, and neither could he definitively confirm if that many had quit.

But, he said, they might not have quit if DAP had addressed their concerns.

"How we were treated when we quit the party, that triggered the anger.

"If after we quit the party, the party took it seriously and reached out to them, I don't think they'll quit the party, because we didn't ask them to quit, we didn't encourage them to quit," Sim said.

He stressed that whatever advice he gave the party was meant to improve it, and that he did not mean to cause more damage to DAP.

He was also tired of party politics, and would be keeping to his promise that this would be his last term as an MP, Sim added.- Mkini