TOO CHINESE FOR UMNO, NOT CHINESE ENOUGH FOR MCA – YET DAP HAS MORE SEATS THAN UMNO & MCA COMBINED

TOO Chinese for Umno and PAS and not Chinese enough for MCA, DAP continues to be the bogeyman for its political rivals.

Efforts to balance out Malay representation in the party and make it more Malaysian have not been easy, as there is some resistance from the party’s core base, said Johor state chief and party strategist Liew Chin Tong.

The party is conscious about the need to be a Malaysian party but is boxed in, Liew said.

“Since 1966, the leaders were aware it must be a Malaysian party but the political reality has boxed us in the non-Malay corner,”   Liew told The Malaysian Insight on Friday.

DAP has had to emphasise continuously Malaysian solutions and be careful not fall into a racial dichotomy, he said.

Despite these efforts, the lack of Malay leaders within the party’s ranks, even at state level, makes it difficult for it to shed its too-Chinese image.

It is estimated that about 5% of DAP’s 150,000 membership is Malay.

In the recent Johor and Selangor party elections, only one Malay – Sheikh Omar Ali – made it to the central committee.

However, Liew, who is now the deputy defence minister, said it must be remembered that DAP fielded more Malay candidates below the age of 40 than even Umno.

“We have a majority of non-Malays and it’s a reality we have to accept.

Liew Chin Tong says the push for a Malaysian agenda, including fielding more Malay candidates, has been met with resistance internally. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 7, 2019.

“But in the last elections, DAP fielded 10 Malay candidates below the age of 40, when Umno only had one,”   he said.

Even then, he admitted that there were members who were unhappy with the fielding of Malay candidates.

“We have a base that is not happy with this and have accused us of only taking care of Malay interests. As such, it’s a challenge to push the boundaries and help our grassroots see that many interests, such as education, economy, etc, are not based on race.”

He stressed that taking care of the B40 group where 75% happen to be Bumiputeras is not the same as championing Malay interests only.

DAP also cannot afford to play up Chinese interests just to respond to attacks by MCA and Chinese media for not being “Chinese enough” or for not doing enough for the community.

“We are concerned about these attacks but we are not going to step up (the rhetoric on) the Chinese race. But DAP cannot do it alone.

“It has to be a Pakatan vision where the parties come to a position where we can articulate something that appeals to everyone. It’s a process we have to go through but we have not reached there yet.”

Liew also believes that ethnic-based parties are not relevant any more, although its Pakatan Harapan ally Bersatu is a Malay-based party.

“Not many Malaysians are living in a stage where they need an ethnic party. Otherwise PKR wouldn’t have grown in 20 years. We need to use the opportunity in government to do good for ordinary people so that they can see it is not race-based,” said the 40-year-old senator.

– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com