Chow Kon Yeow puts discretion before valour

 

From Terence Netto

Chow Kon Yeow’s decision not to contest the Penang DAP’s internal polls later this month is a decision of no surprise.

Chow, the incumbent Penang DAP chairman, is in his second and final term as chief minister. That fact alone makes him a lame duck in a contest for votes, especially after his run-ins with national chairman Lim Guan Eng.

Whether the decision to bow out endangers his hold on the chief minister’s position is difficult to say, notwithstanding the assurance given by party secretary-general Loke Siew Fook that Chow would be allowed to complete his term.

A week is a long time in politics, as a British prime minister, Harold Wilson, once said. It is a view that has become embedded wisdom about the vagaries of political tenancies in democratic politics.

Chow taking himself out of the race fixates attention on the internal polls as a gauge of who will be likely to succeed him as chief minister.

The touted candidates – Steven Sim, Lim Hui Ying and Wong Hon Hai – won’t be anything more than surrogates of Guan Eng. It may be more accurate to say they cannot be anything other than chips off the old block.

If that is the way, the DAP in its leadership succession stakes would be following the path of Umno when Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after an overly long 22 years as party chief and prime minister, left both offices in October 2003.

The problem with long-staying leaders is they want surrogates for their successors. Or, at least, people who won’t tinker with the prescribed ways of doing things.

Stolid Chow was certain to annoy a kinetic Guan Eng, so it was no surprise that tensions arose between them until it was obvious that Guan Eng was chafing at the bit, wanting to get rid of him.

Now that it is clear Guan Eng will get the more compliant successor to Chow that he wants, the DAP, in the fourth term of its ascendancy in Penang, should ask whether it wants the post-Mahathir way in Umno in its own succession sweepstakes.

It is a recipe for bland and sterile leadership – and also, for corruption.

Long occupancies in power breed corruption and stagnation: power which is not transferred from one group to another – as distinct from being slightly shuffled among its existing holders – is power that will be abused.

Long stayers are disinclined to give up their seats even when beset with allegations of corruption.

Looking at the Umno example, it is better for the DAP to cast its net wider for novel refreshment of its succession ranks.

Breeding surrogates, especially when the process could turn out to be nepotic – witness Hui Ying’s blood ties to Guan Eng – is a recipe for long-term stagnation.

It would have been better for DAP’s future prospects if Chow had stood his ground and fought in the state poll to add sizzle to the process of succession, although that would have been a futile choice, given Guan Eng’s hold on the party.

Being bland and predictable got Chow the state chairmanship and succession to Guan Eng as chief minister in the first place.

Being combative and refractory at the fadeout would add savour to the succession stakes in DAP and be a service to a party whose battery is running down. - FMT

Terence Netto is a veteran journalist and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.