Resentment cause of poor attendance at DAP congress

 Unhappy delegates have labelled the event as ‘pointless’, a ‘waste of time’, and ‘quite unnecessary’.

Of the many who did not turn up for the DAP special congress on Sunday, some are unhappy with the party leadership for failing to fulfil promises made.

GEORGE TOWN:

Frustration with the DAP leadership had led many delegates to stay away from last Sunday’s special congress to determine whether the party should remain in the government or leave.

Majority of those who attended eventually voted to stay, but among those who did not show up, it was “pointless” and “a waste of time”.

As Taman Paya Terubong branch chairman JP Tan says, the vote was “quite unnecessary”.The resentment is not without basis, according to a Perak delegate.

He said he had chosen not to travel to Putrajaya for the vote because he has been disillusioned with the party since it became part of the unity government.

JP Tan.

“I didn’t want to take the time to go, vote and come back,” the delegate, who has been with the party for more than 30 years, told FMT.

Of the party’s 4,264 delegates who were eligible to attend the congress, only 2,223, or 52.1%, showed up for the vote. The remaining 2,041, or 47.9% of all delegates, chose not to attend.

Of those who showed up at Sunday’s event, 1,857 delegates, or 88.2%, voted in favour of staying in government, while 242 chose to leave. The remaining 124 did not cast a vote.

The Perak delegate said the DAP had performed well when it was in the opposition. “But the people in my area are now struggling with the rising cost of living and challenges of running a business,” he told FMT.

For the record, a low turnout at DAP congresses is not unusual. In the 2022 national congress, when election to the central executive committee was held, only 2,179 out of a total of 4,149 delegates attended. That added up to a 52.5% turnout.

In the following congress in 2025, a total of 3,320 of the 4,203 eligible delegates attended, making a turnout of 79%.

A Perak delegate who attended Sunday’s congress but voted for the party to leave complained that many of its election promises had not been fulfilled.

He said grassroots members were finding it increasingly difficult to answer to supporters who wanted to know what the party had achieved since it joined the unity government.

Tan said the DAP had waited 60 years to get a foothold in the government. Now that it is there, it should spend the rest of its term delivering on what it had promised voters, he added.

He claimed that the party leadership had pushed delegates to vote for a “predetermined political decision” to stay in government.

He substantiated his claim with the fact that all 14 state representatives who spoke before the vote were in favour of the party remaining in government.

“The state representatives who tabled the motion did not reflect the consensus of the other delegates,” he said, questioning the point of holding the vote if the leadership had already made clear which way it wanted the party to go.

Bukit Tambun delegate Teoh Seang Hooi, who has been a national delegate for 20 years, said he voted for the DAP to stay in government so it can push harder on issues that are important to its supporters.

One issue, he said, is admission to university. He wants intake to be based on performance rather than any other criteria.

But not everyone who stayed away did so because they were unhappy.

An 85-year-old party veteran from Penang, who has been involved with DAP since 1969 and became a member in 1981, said he missed the congress because he was unwell.

The veteran said he was unhappy with the party and felt its leaders had become less connected with ordinary members.

“Before 2008, we were united. After we became a (state) government, we started fighting each other,” he said, but added that DAP should remain in government because it could do more from within than from outside.

DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook had rejected suggestions that the low turnout at the congress, held following recent electoral setbacks, was a form of protest, saying many delegates could not take time off from work.

The Perak delegate who did not attend the congress said the time has come for leaders to go all out to convince voters that the DAP is doing its best despite the challenges.

He said the party leadership must convince Chinese voters who have lost interest in politics altogether to take the initiative to go out and vote again.

One delegate probably sums it up best. He told FMT one cannot expect much now that the term of the current government is already near its end.

“It will take a miracle to get things done,” he quipped. - FMT