Dennis Ignatius
~ Provoking discussion, dissent & debate on politics, diplomacy, human rights & civil society.
Lessons from DAP’s Defeat: The Need for Genuine Leadership
06SaturdayDec 2025
Posted in Politics
[1] The crushing defeat of the DAP in the recent Sabah elections – particularly after the party’s top guns campaigned heavily in the state – appears to have set off alarm bells at DAP headquarters. It’s more than a wakeup call; it could be their death knell if they are not careful.
[2] DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke took “full responsibility for the shortcomings and the failure of the DAP…” and promised to gather feedback as to why the party fared so poorly in Sabah.
[3] It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what went wrong. The writings were, in fact, on the wall long before Sabah. Indeed, that they pulled the venerable Lim Kit Siang out of retirement at the last minute to campaign for their candidates was a sure sign that they knew they were in trouble.
[4] The problem with most politicians is that once they win power, they forget both their principles and their promises. They take the people for granted. They talk down to voters. They stop listening. They get trapped in their own echo chamber. They think they will rule forever. It’s a predictable pattern.
[5] Well is it said that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. History may now be catching up with the DAP (and PKR too) in much the same way as it caught up with UMNO, MCA and MIC.
[6] It should come as no surprise that non-Malay voters are increasingly frustrated and angry that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has turned his back on them. While they understand the need to reach out to Malay voters, they are upset that he has repeatedly ignored their grievances and dismissed their concerns. All he offers is hypocrisy and empty talk. To say that many have simply given up on him would be an understatement.
[7] The expectation was that the DAP would adequately represent the interests of non-Malay voters in the cabinet. But when they needed to speak truth to power, they demurred, they offered excuses, they acted as apologists. Very quickly, the adjective “arrogant” came to be increasingly associated with DAP leaders. That at least is the public perception, and perception is everything in politics.
[8] If they had been listening, they would surely have known that so much of what the government has done since it came to power has caused nothing by angst and anxiety amongst voters. Apart from the cost of living, the long list includes those DNAA’s that were handed out to political allies, outrageous crony appointments, the endless scandals, the fake war on corruption, the uneven distribution of resources including university places, the abuse of power, the surrender of our secular democratic space to the mullahs, etc.
[9] Non-Malays didn’t vote for Madani; they voted for the reform of an indolent, corrupt and discriminatory system. Of course, the DAP knows all this. But they thought they could safely ignore the discontent because they foolishly believed their own propaganda that non-Malay voters were so terrified of PAS coming to power that they would keep on supporting the DAP (and PKR) no matter what.
[10] After their drubbing in Sabah, the DAP appears to have woken up; they are all over the place now, championing every issue that comes up. Reform is once again on their agenda. At the same time, they seem to be subtly fingering the prime minister for their plight, vowing to convey voter concerns to him and urging swift corrective action. Hard to imagine that they never had this conversation with him earlier.
[11] In any case, while he certainly has much to answer for, the DAP cannot shirk its own responsibility for the government’s poor performance. After all, they are part of the government.
[12] Let’s see whether the prime minister and UMNO will take heed of the DAP’s newfound resolve to speed up the reform agenda. Let’s see if the DAP has the courage to stand up for what it claims to believe in.
[13] Whatever it is, they should all know that the electorate has run out of patience. Disappointment has turned to anger. Non-Malay voters have no love for PAS-PN, but they can no longer tolerate the DAP’s betrayal of the very principles and promises that they campaigned on.
[Dennis Ignatius |Kuala Lumpur | 6th December 2025]
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