Radical politics will cause DAP to lose support, says Loke

 

New DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said the party would consider it a success if Malay members were to be in the majority in future. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Newly elected DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said today the party would lose public support if it practises a radical approach and takes an extreme stance in politics.

In an interview with Mingguan Malaysia, which had been the party’s nemesis in the past, Loke said it was not only him but the whole party which believed in the politics of moderation.

The vision of the founders of the party was to unite Malaysians, he said, and the party’s ideology of social democracy called for a moderate approach in policy.

Loke acknowledged that the party drew much support from the Chinese community but said it was not set in the party constitution that the party must be led by Chinese.

“If one day there are more Malays than Chinese in DAP, let it happen, what is the problem?” he said in reply to a question whether the Chinese community would feel let down if DAP were to attract more Malay members.

“If we reach that level (of Malay members becoming dominant) it is a success, to get the support of the majority of Malaysians. We never worry if there are too many Malays in the party, what we worry about is if there are not enough Malays,” Loke said.

He said Malay members in the party had the same role as other members, which is to attract more support, especially from among Malay supporters and from those of other ethnic groups. The party shouldn’t depend solely on PKR and Amanah to get Malay support, he said.

Asked whether Chinese voters had begun to shift support to Barisan Nasional and MCA, Loke said it was a “micro issue” that only happened in certain state seats such as Yong Peng in Johor.

“(In Yong Peng’s case), it is clearly a swing of Chinese voters to MCA. However, this is a ‘micro issue’ meaning MCA really focuses on the area and the candidate who lost in 2018 still continues to serve the constituency.”

Loke was also asked about Pakatan Harapan’s memorandum of understanding with the government coalition in the Dewan Rakyat.

He said the opposition had an obligation to remain neutral if there was a vote of confidence against prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“This means his position as prime minister will not be threatened unless there are people in the government, including from his own party who no longer support him,” Loke said.

He said the MoU was with Ismail’s government, and not with Umno.

Loke was elected the party’s new secretary-general last month to succeed Lim Guan Eng, who relinquished the post after reaching the legal limit of three terms. - FMT