DAP divided by 'elitism' and 'favouritism'

FMT:

DAP divided by feudal leadership and elitists, says Ronnie Liu

DAP central committee member Ronnie Liu says grassroot members are unhappy with the rise of the elitists.

PETALING JAYA: Divisions have arisen in DAP because of feudal leadership and the rise of elitists, said central committee member Ronnie Liu today, voicing disagreement with party senior Lim Kit Siang’s view of external forces creating disunity.

Liu said grassroot members were tired of being treated like “cannon fodder”.

He said the DAP had seen a rise in “elitists” in 2008 who simply enjoyed the hard-earned fruits of the long struggle by grassroot members.

He said the problem was further exacerbated after the 14th general election in 2018 when certain “feudalistic” powers took up Cabinet positions and sidelined long-time leaders.

An example of this, he said, was DAP chairman Tan Kok Wai being given a non-ministerial post as special envoy to China.

“Grassroots were aghast that the Sarawak DAP chief was given a deputy minister post while other junior members were made full ministers. This is total disrespect of the political hierarchy of DAP.

“Even Nga Kor Ming, the state party chairman, was given only a deputy speaker post,” said Liu.

Liu called for the party to return to its core values that had made the party successful in its early years.

“Are DAP leaders fearful of change in the upcoming DAP elections? Why are they so fearful and see a ghost in every shadow they see?”

Earlier today, Lim Kit Siang had claimed that “external forces” were trying to split the DAP and he urged the party to rally behind Pakatan Harapan in facing the next general election.

However, a day earlier, Lim had paid tribute to the DAP as being the most united party, with none of its 42 MPs leaving the party since the 2018 elections.

However, recent events told a “different story” about the DAP’s status, he said, in a reference to internal debates after Liu had stated that the DAP should not become “less Chinese” in the pursuit of its Malaysian dream.

Liu came under severe criticism from Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh two weeks ago, in which she said: “Ronnie does not represent me. Ronnie does not speak for me. The DAP that Ronnie Liu wants is not the DAP which I joined.”

*********

kt notes:

What Ronnie Liu has said is quite true though I would dismiss the description of 'feudalism' and focus on 'elitism' and along with that 'elitism' add 'cronyism' or 'favouritism'. There's no denying the 'favouritism' amongst the DAP 'elites' like Guan Eng, Loke, Teresa Kok, Liew Chin Tong (strategist), Ngeh/Nga cousins, Tony Pua, Yeo Bee Yin, Hannah Yeoh, Teo Nie Ching, Zairil Khir, and my matey Ong Kian Ming.

Yes, the Lim's and their inner cohorts do indeed 'play favourites', marginalising DAP very own Malay leaders who don't toe the Lims' line. Take Zaid Ibrahim - he may be a bit of a loose cannon and that's because he won't and cannot kowtow to any bully. DAP has marginalise him since he was ignored in 2018 and thereafter, not even for a senator's post. What an eff-ing waste, considering Zaid has the reform-spirit and integrity to resign as minister from AAB's cabinet because he disagreed with the police ISA-custody of Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng, a Sin Chew lady journalist.

Another DAP Malay leader that I particularly supported because of his long term loyalty to the party, of 26 years, has been the late Zulkifli Mohd Noor. The DAP broke his heart when they marginalised him in favour of newbies Liew Chin Tong (2008) and subsequently Zairil Khir (2013) in Bukit Bendera. The DAP leaders were bastards, throwing away old lamps for new.

Even then he hung on and soldiered valiantly for the DAP. But years later, seeing utterly no hope as a political candidate with the mob of newbies pouring in (no doubt as Zaid Ibrahim must have felt), on 24 Oct 2013 broken hearted he left DAP, and in Oct 2015 formed the PAP (not the Sing one but called People's Alternative Party). But alas for the late Zulkifli, his newly formed PAP was hijacked by A David Dass who swarmed the party with mainly Indian members. Sadly, he passed away in 2019, a very broken hearted man.



the late Zulkifli Mohd Noor, an unappreciated DAP stalwart

In Feb 2018, he held a press conference, where NST reported him saying it was impossible for the PAP to win any seat as it was fielding Indian candidates when there was no Indian-majority federal constituency in Malaysia:

‘The People's Alternative Party (PAP) will never win a single seat (in the 14th general election).’

This was the reaction by its former president, Zulkifli Mohd Noor, soon after announcing his resignation and departure from the party, along with nine other central executive committee (CEC) members.

Zulkifli, who led PAP, a DAP splinter party since 2015, said simultaneously, all 25 of the party's candidates, who are supposed to be fielded in Penang in the coming polls, would withdraw from the race.

He said the decision was made after the party's secretary-general, A. David Dass, decided to form a new CEC and lodged a complaint with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) over infighting among members.

Wikipedia also informs us: On 27 February 2018, founder Zulkifli Mohd Noor resigned and left the party, along with nine other central executive committee members after A. David Dass hijacked the party and become president, formed a new central executive committee and brought in mostly ethnic Indian members to fill the vacated posts. In the 14th General Election, PAP partnered with the PAS-led Gagasan Sejahtera but failed in their maiden election with all their candidates having lost their deposits.

Before Zul's demise, on 01 Oct 2013, the Editor of The Edge wrote a piece titled 'The tragic story of DAP and Zulkifli Mohd Noor', as follows:

GEORGE TOWN (Oct 1): The saga of the DAP’s central executive committee re-election on Sunday (Sept 29) had a dramatic prologue when one of its most veteran members accused the party’s leadership of racialism and manipulation.

In two consecutive press conferences over a few days, Zulkifli Mohd Noor, a veteran of 26 years, specifically offered himself to take over as DAP’s chairman, saying he was doing so in the name of his Malay race and "marginalised representatives".

Stunning his comrades, he claimed that despite its multi-racial objective the party had never been headed by a Malay in its 47-year history.

Now, Zulkifli is no small fry. He was an elected deputy secretary-general and national vice-chairman of the DAP. And so when he raised a poser before the re-election – directed by the Registrar of Societies – over how many Malays would actually be voted in, many were certainly compelled to take attention.

As it turned out, of the seven Malay members who contested, only one – Zairil Khir Johari with 1,132 votes – managed to make it into the twenty elected slots for the CEC. The eighth, Roseli Abdul Ghani, was among 17 DAP members who withdrew from the race. Zulkifli himself failed, getting only 220 votes, far less than the 808 attained by Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham – the last among the twenty voted in.

(During the original CEC election on Dec 15 last year, Zulkifli garnered 216 votes and after a tabulation error was announced, he recorded 249; then also neither enough to win a place in the CEC.)

'No place for Malays after 2008 GE'

As a postscript to the saga, Zulkifli later declared that his earlier criticisms had been vindicated. “The DAP is not a place for Malays after 8th March 2008,” he stressed. “Not a single ‘original’ Malay leader has been elected (in the CEC).”

He labelled Zairil as a “special Malay” whose victory was due to support from the party’s top leadership, and described the appointment into the CEC of Senator Ariffin Omar (who got 441 votes – still insufficient to be elected), as mere “wallpaper”.

Party members however have asserted that it was just a case of allowing democracy run its course, with individuals being voted for their intrinsic merits rather than their race.

Zulkifli also claimed that his criticisms against secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and his father, adviser Lim Kit Siang, had “opened the delegates’ eyes”, thereby reducing the duos’ share of votes although both managed enough to remain in the CEC. Backing his claim that the re-election outcome was manipulated, he pointed to the 17 who withdrew from the race.

“Were they protesting or was it to aid the evil plan of deception and lies by certain parties?” Zulkifli said. “The delegates, many of whom are new members, are easily influenced and trust those above them in their strategy of deception and lies.”

A spirited and vocal DAP member

For many DAP members who have known Zulkifli all these years, all this has come as a shock and a tragic turn of events. I, myself, used to meet him while covering DAP events in the 1990s. He had always been a very spirited and friendly politician who genuinely believed in the ideals of the DAP, and generally got along with most party members and the media. No doubt, he was opinionated and did not mince his words; I personally remember seeing him make whipping comments to fellow party members. But, whatever he wanted to say was expressed straight in the presence of those whom he ticked off.

For the 18-odd years that I have known him, I have never heard him lash out at the party’s leadership in public or the media. Never. The press conference on Sept 19 was the first time that he openly criticised the leadership to the media, after some 26 years in the party.

But 2008 was a watershed for a veteran member like Zulkifli. When I met him again in the later part of that year, following the DAP’s massive electoral victory in Penang in the general election of March 8, he seemed very disappointed and indignant, almost hurt. Despite him being fielded in many previous elections, Zulkifli had not even been chosen as a candidate in that fateful election of March 8, 2008, in which he may well have won in view of the enormous public mood and political swing at that time.

kt note: Zulkifli was replaced by new wonder Zairil Khir to stand in Bukit Bendera, Zul's old constituency

(Among others, he had previously contested and lost the Bukit Bendera and Bayan Baru parliamentary contests for the DAP in 2004 and 2008 respectively)

See my 20 Feb 2014 post Spartans no more?

Nevertheless, Zulkifli was appointed as a councillor in the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) where he worked assiduously, going to the ground to tackle various problems, from matters related to hawkers to illegal parking attendants. I remember accompanying him during a field trip with councillors to inspect a new bridge project in Jelutong. He spoke privately about his intense disappointment, that not a single Malay DAP member was fielded in Penang, and that as a veteran of so many years he was sidelined from that very important election of 2008.

Umbrage as seats given away to PKR

To make it worse, key multi-ethnic constituencies where DAP’s Malay members could possibly win, like Bayan Baru and its three state constituencies of Batu Maung, Pantai Jerejak and Batu Uban, were given to PKR to contest.

(Bayan Baru was won by the late Ahmad Nor – former president of the public and civil service union body Cuepacs – on a DAP ticket in 1990)

Things came to a head in August 2011, when Zulkifli issued a statement that the DAP had “no choice” but to request at least one parliament and five state seats from PKR in Penang in the next polls. He warned that the DAP may be perceived to be "anti-Malay and chauvinistic" should it fail to field Malay candidates in the next election. At about the same time, the Penang Malay Congress was formed and headed by president Rahmat Isahak, a DAP member. For quite a while, the PMC supported the DAP-led state government while berating Umno.

Interestingly, Rahmat also led a series of attacks against state PKR leaders like Datuk Mansor Othman and Datuk Abdul Malik Abul Kassim, especially the latter who had, in 2008, won the Batu Maung seat that could have been won by a DAP Malay candidate. Rahmat only recently left the party and was seen lending support to Zulkifli at the recent press conferences. Whatever happens now – there are speculations that he will quit the party and join another – is really academic, perhaps even inconsequential.

For the real heartbreak is that such a veteran who has seen the party’s trials and tribulations for so long should have a falling out with the leadership in such an ignominious way. That is the tragedy of both the party and the veteran who has long served with it.

Yes, kaytee admits shedding a tear or two or more at Zul's resignation from DAP and finally, his eventual sad demise, no doubt still broken hearted at the way the DAP inner leadership had treated him in favour of glamorous 'newbies' (with double degrees, MBA, PhD etc).