DAP’s secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook wants to impress that he is in control of the party.
This could be the reason he openly advised the party’s advisor Lim Guan Eng and Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow not to have an open conflict.
He advised both to use internal party channels to air their grievances. Recently, Guan Eng was critical of Chow for allowing the rise of quit rent in Penang. The Bagan MP claimed that the rise was exorbitant and not in keeping with Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) election promise.
Editor’s Note: The spat between the duo is nothing new to avid DAP followers given the writing has already been on the wall for a while till it erupted openly following a sharp rebuke by Guan Eng that many Penang voters would not have supported Chow if “they knew the unity manifesto for the 15th Penang General Election 2023 allows land tax rates to increase thousands of times!”
However, Chow countered the allegation by stating that the quit rent was justified on the grounds of the information supplied by the land office in different districts in the state.
This was when Loke intervened in the public spat to ask both Guan Eng and Chow to use internal party channels to resolve their disputes.
Loke is fully aware that DAP is not the united party that it used to be. He is further aware that quest for power, positions and perks has affected the performance of the party.
‘Team A vs Team B’
DAP is not the same vociferously party that was once in the opposition. Political power has meant among other things that the leadership has to toe the line of representatives of the Malay-Muslim interests.
As a result, DAP has failed to champion interests of the Chinese and Indians in the country.
Loke had earlier denied the existence of two political camps in the party – Team A and Team B. But despite his denial, it goes without saying that the rise of rival political camps had been inevitable in the party.
Generally speaking, there is one camp on the side of Loke and the other on the side of Guan Eng. The present conflict between Guan Eng and Chow could be related to the existence of both camps in the party.
Guan Eng was once a powerful person in the DAP. He was the former secretary general, former Penang chief minister (CM) and former finance minister at the federal level.
However, as time went by, he has seen reduced power and influence in the party. He is today merely a party advisor having not performed well in the recent DAP Central Executive Committee’s (CEC) polls.
As the former Penang CM for two terms, he taken umbrage with Chow on a number of issues in the state in the recent past. The quit rent issue is the latest.
Losing its fangs
In the DAP circles and the general public, it is not secret that both Guan Eng and Chow are not the best of friends.
Guan Eng has not forgiven those who were responsible for his sister Lim Hui Ying losing the Penang DAP chairman contest. However, she retained her post as the secretary of the party in Penang
Both Guan Eng and Chow are different political personalities. While the former is aggressive, the latter is a much calmer and a team player person.
Maybe the recent increase quit rent is steep in Penang or maybe it is not. Chow relies on the data furnished by the civil servants in the state while Guan Eng acts on public complaints.
The very fact that both leaders are not really on talking terms means that there is no way they could rely on internal party mechanisms to resolve matters.
Maybe Guan Eng – having been a former two-term Penang CM himself – has a different way of looking at things in the state.
Chow might be soft in his approach but he can be stubborn as a mule if he gets the backing of the civil servants.
Since the spat between the two leaders came out in the open, Loke had to act by cautioning the duo.
The Transport Minister may want to present the party as a united entity but I really doubt the party is the same as it was when it was in the opposition.
The DAP was wiped out in the recent Sabah state elections. It might have 40 parliamentary seats but unfortunately the party has no real say in how the government is run.
DAP might threaten the Madani government with a six-month ultimatum for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to bring forth reforms but its leaders cannot translate those threats into action.
By accommodating to majoritarian interests, the present DAP leadership has given up on the rights of the non-Malays in the country. It is so sad that it is lot worse than the MCA when the latter was in government.
Former DAP stalwart and Penang deputy chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.