Dennis Ignatius
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Power Without Influence: How the DAP Marginalised Itself
16TuesdayDec 2025
Posted in Politics
[1] A few weeks after the last election, I attended a luncheon with a senior DAP leader, freshly returned to parliament and buoyed by the party’s best-ever showing. With 40 seats secured and its place as the largest component of the ruling coalition assured, confidence came easily. The DAP, he said without hesitation, was likely to remain in power for at least another decade. Even Lim Kit Siang was openly entertaining the possibility that Anwar Ibrahim might yet become one of Malaysia’s longest-serving prime ministers[1] — with the DAP firmly at his side, of course. At the time, the optimism seemed understandable. In retrospect, it was also the moment when hubris set in.
[2] The stunning defeat in the Sabah elections shattered the party’s swagger. In truth, the warning signs were visible well before Sabah. As early as April last year, Anthony Loke himself acknowledged growing dissatisfaction within the party.[2] Frustration was mounting both within and without over the leadership’s unwilling to speak truth to power, honour its reform promises, defend its core principles, and stand up consistently for minority rights. The DAP was increasingly seen as weak and vacillating — more focused on preserving positions and privileges than on representing the people who put them in power.
[3] Part of the problem was that the leadership began to believe its own propaganda. It assumed that Chinese voters in particular were so fearful of PAS and the so-called green wave that they would cling to the DAP regardless of performance. The party came to believe it owned the Chinese vote; the same fatal assumption once made by the MCA when it was in power.
[4] The bigger mistake, however, was strategic self-castration. Under pressure from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the DAP voluntarily muted its voice to spare him the embarrassment of appearing overly dependent on a predominantly Chinese party to keep his government afloat. It accepted a reduced role, lowered its profile, and softened its positions — not as a temporary tactical adjustment, but as a governing posture.
[5] The largest party in the coalition was thus pushed to the margins, while UMNO, with far fewer seats, was elevated as the “strategic ally.” It is one thing to exercise restraint in the interest of stability; it is quite another to neglect the hopes and expectations of one’s base. Perhaps Loke assumed that the loyalty and support extended to Anwar would be reciprocated. Instead, Anwar — preoccupied with consolidating Malay-Muslim support — showed little urgency or interest in addressing DAP concerns. Yet the party largely stayed silent.
[6] Now the DAP is attempting to shift the blame for its own predicament to the prime minister. Anthony Loke has warned that if Anwar fails to deliver meaningful reforms within the next six months, the DAP would “reassess its role in the government.” [3] Lim Guan Eng, seemingly eager to raise the stakes — or perhaps to upstage Loke — followed quickly with his own ten-point demand to the prime minister. [4]
[7] The prime minister undoubtedly has much to answer for. But the DAP is not an innocent bystander; it is part of the government. That raises uncomfortable questions about what DAP ministers have been doing in cabinet over the past three years. Were they genuinely so powerless, so marginalised, that they could neither influence policy nor publicly dissent? And if so, why did they wait until now to react? Like it or not, Anwar’s failures are also their failures.
[8] Whether the prime minister will take these latest warnings seriously remains doubtful. The DAP has issued ultimatums before, only to retreat. In 2020, Nga Kor Ming warned that the party would leave the government if the UEC were not recognised. [5] Five years on, there has been no movement on the issue — a reminder that threats, when unacted upon, quickly lose credibility. Now that the party is in trouble, Nga is raising the issue again.[6]
[9] The political ground beneath Anwar and his unity government is clearly shifting. Public disenchantment is growing, and with three state elections looming over the next eighteen months — Melaka, Sarawak and Johor — as well as the possibility of an early general election, the DAP no longer has the luxury of time. If it is to salvage what’s left of its credibility, it must act decisively and soon.
[10] Yet the party’s options are limited. If it stays in government and fails to deliver tangible results quickly, it risks being pulverised at the next polls. If it withdraws, it may pave the way for a Malay-only government, further deepening communal anxieties. One strategy now being quietly floated is for the DAP to distance itself from the unity government without withdrawing parliamentary support for Anwar — a delicate manoeuvre that may satisfy no one.
[11] Whatever course it chooses, Malaysia appears to be drifting once again towards political instability and heightened racial tension, with parties retreating into familiar postures and appealing to the basest instincts of their respective constituencies. It is a sobering reminder of how little progress we have made in bridging the country’s racial and religious divides, despite more than half a century of nation-building.
[Dennis Ignatius |Kuala Lumpur |16th December 2025]
UMNO - 26 MPs - Super Power
ReplyDeleteDAP - 40 MPs - keep quiet Kiddo