Bottleneck for DAP amid anger over unkept election vows?

DAP appears to have reached the limit in terms of support as well as the number of seats that it can contribute in the 15th general election (GE15), due to be held within weeks, amid talk of failing support from its Chinese vote base over unfulfilled promises from the previous polls. 

At GE14 in 2018, DAP won 42 of the 47 seats it contested, riding on the wave of anti-government sentiment that swept across the country following the massive 1MDB scandal in which billions were siphoned off from the state investment fund. 

It retained these seats even after the Sheraton Move in 2020 which saw the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

But political analyst Liew Wui Chern said the seats held by DAP were in constituencies with relatively high numbers of Chinese voters. 

"DAP won these seats," Liew, of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, said to MalaysiaNow. 

"But it can't contribute any further. It has reached a bottleneck in terms of Chinese-majority seats and votes." 

If it wished to move beyond its traditional base, Liew said, DAP would have to turn its attention to other mixed or Malay-majority constituencies. 

And even among its established vote bank, DAP's support might be slipping. 

A former senior politician from DAP who spoke to MalaysiaNow on condition of anonymity said the party was now on weaker footing. 

"DAP is losing support from the Chinese over the TAR UC funding issue," he said, referring to the move by the PH government to cut the 2020 allocation for Tunku Abdul Rahman University College by over 80%, from RM5.5 million to RM1 million. 

The former politician also cited PH's failure to make good on its 2018 election pledge to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) for entry to public institutions of higher learning, which he said had delivered a "huge blow" to DAP. 

"For the Chinese, education is close to their hearts," he said. "When they were in power, they couldn't deliver." 

Shadow of a dynasty

GE15 must be held within the next two months, following Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's move to dissolve Parliament on Oct 10. 

Apart from the challenges it will face during the election period, DAP will also have to emerge from the shadow of the so-called Lim Dynasty, a reference to Lim Kit Siang and his son Lim Guan Eng who, for decades, symbolised the top leadership in the party. 

Kit Siang retired from active politics in March, about the same time that Guan Eng stepped down as secretary-general after serving the maximum three terms. He was replaced by Seremban MP Anthony Loke Siew Fook, becoming DAP's national chairman instead. 

Loke said at the time that it was the beginning of the "3G" or third generation. 

"The first generation was of Lim Kit Siang, the second generation Lim Guan Eng, who is still at the central executive committee to lead us and has given room to 3G leaders like me, Gobind Singh Deo, Steven Sim and others to jointly lead the party through the challenges that lie ahead," he said.

Given the limited period of time expected before GE15 is called, though, the former DAP politician said it would be an "uphill task" for the party to make this transition. 

"Assuming it can emerge from the Lim Dynasty, it will still have problems dispelling the anger of the Chinese community over the TAR UC funding issue," he said. 

He also questioned DAP's achievements after its return to the opposition bench, saying it had only continued "hammering" on 1MDB. 

He also cited the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Ismail and PH in September last year, calling it "a major killer". 

"The MoU was a major killer for both DAP and PH," he said. "You sign the MoU to support the government, and you condemn it at the same time. You condemn the 2022 budget, and after that you vote for it.

"It doesn't make sense."  

Liew meanwhile said that PH and DAP must work to get rid of what he described as "old-man politics", especially in order to capture the support of first-time voters. 

"Give the exposure to Loke from here on out," he said. 

"Woo the support of new voters, and prove that DAP is different now."