DAP in danger as the mantle of leadership passes from one generation to another
Nehru Sathiamoorthy
4 Mar 2025, 23:08 (23 hours ago)
4 Mar 2025, 23:08 (23 hours ago)
Image credit: MyKMU.net
I am not at all surprised that according to Ronnie Liu, the former DAP strongman, a permanent split has emerged in DAP.
I am not, because Eric Hoffer has already predicted it in 1951 itself.
According to Eric Hoffer: “A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of action. It is usually an advantage to a movement, and perhaps a prerequisite for its endurance, that these roles should be played by different men succeeding each other as conditions require. When the same person or persons (or the same type of person) leads a movement from its inception to maturity, it usually ends in disaster.”
When DAP was chiefly known as the party that stood against the government, it was led by men of words and fanatics.
In his career, Lim Kit Siang has reportedly written 10 million words. In comparison, Considering that an average novel is 100,000 words long, that Lim Kit Siang has probably written the equivalent of a 100 novels in his 50 year plus career, likely makes Lim Kit Siang the most prominent man of word that pioneered DAP in its early years.
As for fanatics, or true believers, that stood against the odds for the ideas and beliefs of DAP that people like Lim Kit Siang had expressed into words, I suppose you can call the likes of Ronnie Liu, the former DAP leader who left DAP in 2023 right after DAP formed the government and is now claiming a permanent split has emerged in DAP, is one of them. It was True believers like Ronnie that characterised the profile of DAP’s membership during the years where it served as the opponent to the of the day. (note : like Eric Hoffer, when I say fanatic, I mean a true believer or a die hard supporter of a belief, ideology, leader, party or movement. It is not meant pejoratively to indicate someone a violent or narrow minded person, as how it is often used today. ).
DAP's True Believers, like Ronnie, were the ones that fought for DAP when fighting was hard and victory was nowhere to be seen. These were the “die first, surrender later” sort that stood against the government of the day even when defeat was certain.True believers have a personality trait of taking delight in making sacrifices . It is because of the previous generation of DAP true believers who were willing to fight on just “rice and water” – or in DAP’s terms, whatever little that they collected from the tin milo donation they passed around during their ceramah rounds – and sacrifice their own money, resources, energy, time and sometimes and even freedom for the sake of their beliefs and party - that DAP could continue to exist and survive, even when it was facing a vastly superior opponent for decades of its existence.
Since 2022 however, DAP has become a part of the government, and thus it will likely have to be consolidated by what Eric Hoffer refers to as the men of action.
A man of words deals with concepts and theories, rather than the reality of their times.Their concepts or theories, as a matter of fact, are often made for the purpose of bringing down, updating or even replacing the reality of their times.
A fanatic or true believer is someone who fights against the reality of their times, to bring about the reality that they believe in, as propounded by their Men of Words.
A man of action,is the people who will be making the new reality of the times, after the true believers have won the fight and brought down the status quo. These are men who can persuade themselves to make compromises in order to make something happen, rather than be sticklers for their beliefs, and have nothing to show for it. These are the sorts that have resigned themselves to accept that you will have to have blood on your hands in order to put meat on the table. While the man of words and the fanatics will not even break bread with those that they oppose, the man of actions can even persuade themselves to sleep in the same bed with those that they oppose, while dreaming different dreams.
In the context of DAP, I see a man of action in the likes of Anthony Loke and the other Young Turks in DAP who are currently the most high profile members of DAP who have important governmental posts. They are the ones that realise that they will have to bend or perhaps even disregard, some of DAP's foundational principles, in order to cooperate and strike a deal with those others who lie outside of their belief system and party, so that they canon cstruct a Malaysia according to DAP's ideals, even if the Malaysia that they construct is not exactly like the ones that their party envisioned,and even if they have to cooperate with those that the previous generation in DAP fought against.
According to Eric Hoffer, a movement needs to be led by different men succeeding each other as a condition for its continuity and endurance. He cautions that “ When the same person or persons (or the same type of person) leads a movement from its inception to maturity, it usually ends in disaster.”
In other words, what Eric Hoffer is saying is that now that DAP is a part of the government instead of the opponent of the government, the mantle of leadership will need to be passed to its men of action rather than remain with its fanatics or true believers.
DAP’s chief man of word, Lim Kit Siang, seems to have accepted the fact that his time is up rather gracefully. He retired on his own volition in 2022, and after he retired, he seems to be content to let the next generation of leaders chart the course for party, without getting in their way.
The DAP true believers however, according to Ronnie, might not be riding to the sunset as gracefully as Lim Kit Siang.
That Ronnie is warning about a irreparable split looming over DAP, and the fact that he is urging DAP’s 4,000 delegates to not vote for “arrogant individuals who may damage the party’s image” during the coming DAP elections, as well as demanding that the new leaders do not change the character of DAP now that they are in government, to the extent that the party’s fundamental struggle is compromised, is all symptomatic of a conflict between the true believers and the men action in DAP, as Eric Hoffer has predicted.
According to analysts, there are currently two factions in DAP; one led by Loke and the other by Lim Guan Eng.
In my reading, as per the frame of reference provided by Eric Hoffer, the faction led by Loke represents the Men of Action while the one led by Lim represents the True Believers.
If they do not sort out their dispute well, then like Eric Hoffer predicted, the next phase of DAP’s evolution will likely end in disaster.
I am not at all surprised that according to Ronnie Liu, the former DAP strongman, a permanent split has emerged in DAP.
I am not, because Eric Hoffer has already predicted it in 1951 itself.
According to Eric Hoffer: “A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of action. It is usually an advantage to a movement, and perhaps a prerequisite for its endurance, that these roles should be played by different men succeeding each other as conditions require. When the same person or persons (or the same type of person) leads a movement from its inception to maturity, it usually ends in disaster.”
When DAP was chiefly known as the party that stood against the government, it was led by men of words and fanatics.
In his career, Lim Kit Siang has reportedly written 10 million words. In comparison, Considering that an average novel is 100,000 words long, that Lim Kit Siang has probably written the equivalent of a 100 novels in his 50 year plus career, likely makes Lim Kit Siang the most prominent man of word that pioneered DAP in its early years.
As for fanatics, or true believers, that stood against the odds for the ideas and beliefs of DAP that people like Lim Kit Siang had expressed into words, I suppose you can call the likes of Ronnie Liu, the former DAP leader who left DAP in 2023 right after DAP formed the government and is now claiming a permanent split has emerged in DAP, is one of them. It was True believers like Ronnie that characterised the profile of DAP’s membership during the years where it served as the opponent to the of the day. (note : like Eric Hoffer, when I say fanatic, I mean a true believer or a die hard supporter of a belief, ideology, leader, party or movement. It is not meant pejoratively to indicate someone a violent or narrow minded person, as how it is often used today. ).
DAP's True Believers, like Ronnie, were the ones that fought for DAP when fighting was hard and victory was nowhere to be seen. These were the “die first, surrender later” sort that stood against the government of the day even when defeat was certain.True believers have a personality trait of taking delight in making sacrifices . It is because of the previous generation of DAP true believers who were willing to fight on just “rice and water” – or in DAP’s terms, whatever little that they collected from the tin milo donation they passed around during their ceramah rounds – and sacrifice their own money, resources, energy, time and sometimes and even freedom for the sake of their beliefs and party - that DAP could continue to exist and survive, even when it was facing a vastly superior opponent for decades of its existence.
Since 2022 however, DAP has become a part of the government, and thus it will likely have to be consolidated by what Eric Hoffer refers to as the men of action.
A man of words deals with concepts and theories, rather than the reality of their times.Their concepts or theories, as a matter of fact, are often made for the purpose of bringing down, updating or even replacing the reality of their times.
A fanatic or true believer is someone who fights against the reality of their times, to bring about the reality that they believe in, as propounded by their Men of Words.
A man of action,is the people who will be making the new reality of the times, after the true believers have won the fight and brought down the status quo. These are men who can persuade themselves to make compromises in order to make something happen, rather than be sticklers for their beliefs, and have nothing to show for it. These are the sorts that have resigned themselves to accept that you will have to have blood on your hands in order to put meat on the table. While the man of words and the fanatics will not even break bread with those that they oppose, the man of actions can even persuade themselves to sleep in the same bed with those that they oppose, while dreaming different dreams.
In the context of DAP, I see a man of action in the likes of Anthony Loke and the other Young Turks in DAP who are currently the most high profile members of DAP who have important governmental posts. They are the ones that realise that they will have to bend or perhaps even disregard, some of DAP's foundational principles, in order to cooperate and strike a deal with those others who lie outside of their belief system and party, so that they canon cstruct a Malaysia according to DAP's ideals, even if the Malaysia that they construct is not exactly like the ones that their party envisioned,and even if they have to cooperate with those that the previous generation in DAP fought against.
According to Eric Hoffer, a movement needs to be led by different men succeeding each other as a condition for its continuity and endurance. He cautions that “ When the same person or persons (or the same type of person) leads a movement from its inception to maturity, it usually ends in disaster.”
In other words, what Eric Hoffer is saying is that now that DAP is a part of the government instead of the opponent of the government, the mantle of leadership will need to be passed to its men of action rather than remain with its fanatics or true believers.
DAP’s chief man of word, Lim Kit Siang, seems to have accepted the fact that his time is up rather gracefully. He retired on his own volition in 2022, and after he retired, he seems to be content to let the next generation of leaders chart the course for party, without getting in their way.
The DAP true believers however, according to Ronnie, might not be riding to the sunset as gracefully as Lim Kit Siang.
That Ronnie is warning about a irreparable split looming over DAP, and the fact that he is urging DAP’s 4,000 delegates to not vote for “arrogant individuals who may damage the party’s image” during the coming DAP elections, as well as demanding that the new leaders do not change the character of DAP now that they are in government, to the extent that the party’s fundamental struggle is compromised, is all symptomatic of a conflict between the true believers and the men action in DAP, as Eric Hoffer has predicted.
According to analysts, there are currently two factions in DAP; one led by Loke and the other by Lim Guan Eng.
In my reading, as per the frame of reference provided by Eric Hoffer, the faction led by Loke represents the Men of Action while the one led by Lim represents the True Believers.
If they do not sort out their dispute well, then like Eric Hoffer predicted, the next phase of DAP’s evolution will likely end in disaster.
It's a thin line between being Men of Action and being a bootlicker.
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