Tanjung Piai - Beginning of End of DAP?

NST (extracts):

'It's DAP's reputation at stake'

by Arfa Yunus, Hana Naz Harun

Pakatan Harapan candidate Karmaine Sardini campaigning at a restaurant in Pontian on Sunday

BERNAMA PIC 

Talk has it that there is a detachment between the DAP Central Executive Committee, particularly its 13 cabinet members, and their grassroots leaders and ground supporters.

split in DAP leadership and grassroots 

This compelled its leadership to urge their representatives to put a united front, for the sake of the coalition and winning the Tanjung Piai by-election.

It was only on the fifth day of campaigning that DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang appeared for a ceramah, with Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong having to hold the fort on his own.

DAP’s ceramah, however, have been lacklustre despite proving to be one of the party’s most common and effective tools for winning elections.

Although attendance at ceramah may not indicate a win or defeat, the bleak turnouts signalled a shift of mood among once staunch supporters.

During a MCA ceramah on Sunday, which gathered at least 400 Chinese and Malay residents, the audience was in awe listening to party president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

Ka Siong tells BN-PAS crowd: Not all Chinese are racists like 'that party'

A person, while listening to Wee’s speech, spoke to his friend: “Wah, so many people. Like DAP ceramah before (the last general) election last year, right?”

It was surprising indeed.

A politician could overstay his welcome by talking too long during a ceramah, killing off the mood in the audience.

That, somehow, did not happen to Wee on Sunday night.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Wee was giving a lecture instead of a speech, for it lasted about an hour.

The audience stayed on, their eyes locked on Wee, listening and cheering him.

That was what it was like during a DAP ceramah before GE14.

What went wrong along the way?

Skudai DAP assemblyman Tan Hong Pin said there was frustration among grassroots members and implied that there was sabotage in the party’s machinery.

Just as how difficult it has been for DAP to regain traction on the ground, the by-election is beginning to prove that the party is also finding it hard to get its grassroots members to campaign for the candidate from its ally, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

From Malaysiakini:

A video recording of Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu from Bersatu PRIBUMI allegedly making disparaging remarks about DAP has sparked outrage among the Perak chapters of his Pakatan Harapan allies

This has resulted in Perak PKR declaring that Bersatu PRIBUMI’s Faizal does not deserve to be menteri besar for disrespecting Harapan's shared mandate

Perak DAP said Faizal's conduct was "embarrassing" and demanded that he apologise to Harapan's presidential council

KT notes: Mahathir has cleared Azumu of any wrong even before Azumu meets the presidential council, just like he declared Azmin Ali innocent of the Semburit video case even before police had investigated teh gay sex incident 

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said these problems were a chink in their armour, not denying that there was “unhappiness” in the party and the PH coalition.

At the Selangor DAP convention in Petaling Jaya on Sunday, Guan Eng reminded members that any loss for the alliance was a loss for each party.

'Tuk, shall I provide matching grant to TAR-UC and what about Azumu? 

The unhappiness, he added, posed a greater challenge as it came from within.

Guan Eng, however, was confident that the wisdom of PH leaders would overcome the adversity.

Chinese voters in Pekan Nanas said they had no problems with DAP, only with the government’s failure to fulfil its promises.

Sources in PH in Johor said: “The Chinese here don’t hate DAP but they don’t see a reason why they should vote for PH if it does nothing to help their businesses.”

Another reason for Chinese voters’ unhappiness in Tanjung Piai, according to sources, was due to the inactiveness of Pekan Nanas assemblyman Yeo Tung Siong.

Pekan Nanas assemblyman Yeo Tung Siong

“Those are the reasons why they (Chinese voters) are treating DAP like how they treated MCA then (before GE14),” the source said.

Other reasons for their frustrations were the two DAP leaders arrested for their alleged links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka, and the controversial “Superman” Hew’s comic book.

The most relevant issue among the grassroots, however, is the stagnant economy.

Despite such admissions, there were some leaders who tried to downplay the problems.

Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal denied that DAP grassroots were unwilling to campaign for Bersatu PRIBUMI’s candidate, and said ties between the component parties were strong.

In Tanjung Piai, it is DAP’s — not Bersatu PRIBUMI’s — credibility that’s at stake.

The late Datuk Dr Mohd Farik Mohd Rafik won the seat in the last general election with 80 per cent of Chinese votes.

A loss would mean a defeat for DAP and a decrease of its influence among the Chinese in the constituency.