Nga Kor Ming's influence in DAP on the rise

DAP vice-chairman Nga Kor Ming's influence in the party has been on the rise since the last general election, with the controversial figure seen as representing the ethos of the party's Chinese vote bank having an increasing say in national politics.

The recent decision to nominate his aide Pang Sock Tao for the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election appears to be just the tip of the iceberg for the strengthening of Nga's power within DAP, which has traditionally managed to keep its political workings hidden from the public eye.

Should Pang succeed in retaining the seat for Pakatan Harapan (PH), it would only increase Nga's sphere of influence within DAP.

Nga has always been the face of DAP in Perak, one of the party's strongholds in the peninsula where it was the de facto state government for a brief period after the 2008 general election.

He is one of five DAP vice-chairmen in the Central Executive Committee (CEC), the party's highest decision-making body.

In 2022, he received 1,252 votes, placing him 12th out of 30 members of the CEC.

Unlike many other political parties in Malaysia, DAP does not have specific positions up for election. Instead, the 30 members of the CEC are assigned positions by consensus.

This arrangement may not be good news for current secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook, the Seremban MP who was appointed to lead the party for the 2022-2025 term after he was elected to the CEC with the third-largest vote.

Loke had big shoes to fill as the post was largely in the hands of the so-called "Lim dynasty" for the past five decades: Lim Kit Siang from 1970 to 1999 and his son Lim Guan Eng from 2004 to 2022.

Loke is seen as representing the interests of the Lims in the current coalition government, which is also reflected in the fact that Kit Siang's daughter Lim Hui Ying was given the powerful post of deputy finance minister despite being an unknown in national politics.

As Nga's influence continues to grow, Loke's prospects for a second term are unclear, according to Liew Hui Churn, an assistant professor at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

"His rise to power will make it possible for him to challenge Loke in the next party elections," he said.

Liew, a keen observer of DAP's internal politics, said the party leadership was split into two camps: the one allied with Guan Eng or the Lims, and that of Nga.

Loke's deputy Liew Chin Tong and Hannah Yeoh are also in the Lim camp.

The DAP leaders of Perak – Wong Kah Wong, V Sivakumar and Abdul Aziz Bari – are allied with Nga.

Controversies

Nga's position as the housing and local government minister has come in handy in the campaign for Kuala Kubu Baharu, which DAP must retain to show its partners in government that it has the backing of its Chinese vote bank.

Nga wasted no time in travelling to Kuala Kubu Baharu to announce a RM5.2 million government project there. When asked about the sudden allocation in a constituency just weeks away from a by-election, he invoked its "good feng shui".

Nga is no stranger to controversy. He called Zambry Abdul Kadir, the current higher education minister, a "black metallic" when he was still Perak menteri besar.

In 2016, he mocked the tradition of giving cash gifts for Hari Raya as a form of bribery, sparking angry protests from Umno.

In 2018, a day before the general election in which Dr Mahathir Mohamad led PH to end six decades of Barisan Nasional power, he drew ridicule for talking about the veteran leader's death.

"When Mahathir dies, when he ‘checks in’ to the afterlife, and the next election comes and Mahathir is not there, what other options are there? None, right? That’s why we have to take this opportunity. The horse (Mahathir) kills the chicken (Najib Razak). If we miss this opportunity, we may have to wait for another 60 years," he was quoted as saying.

The following year, he was investigated for a post on a Facebook account linked to him in which the Chinese were urged to protest the Selangor sultan's decree that road signs in the state should no longer be written in Chinese script.

In the campaign for the 2022 general election, he labelled PAS as the party of the "Taliban" and said Malaysia would turn into Afghanistan if PN came to power

Last year, he defended the use of mock cheques bearing the DAP logo in a ceremony to present RM1.8 million in government allocation to Chinese schools in Perak.

Recently, Nga was attacked by Malay groups for suggesting that Chinese new villages should apply for Unesco heritage status and for criticising the boycotting of some Western brands as part of global Muslim solidarity with the Palestinians.

Liked by DAP members

A DAP leader said Nga's popularity was due to his method of controlling the party's Perak chapter.

"Nga has positioned Perak DAP so that people have to negotiate with us, whether among PH parties or other parties who want to cooperate with PH, and that includes Umno and maybe even PAS in the future," he said.

He said while it was true that Nga's popularity had ruffled some feathers in DAP, especially in the Lim camp, this would not affect the party's unity unlike the situation in PKR elections.

"In DAP, it's about the ability to deliver results for the party."

Liew meanwhile said the influence of the Lim dynasty had waned after the 2022 election.

He added that frustration over the Lims' stranglehold had been there since the 1980s.

The by-election in Kuala Kubu Baharu offers Nga a chance to prove his popularity outside of Perak.

"If DAP wins a landslide victory, it will certainly give him extra credit in the party leadership," he added.

Analyst Oh Ei Sun said it was only natural for Nga to lead the DAP campaign in Kuala Kubu Baharu.

"Since Nga is the local government minister, it makes sense to have somebody from his camp as the candidate, and Pang is a well-known online influencer in the Chinese-speaking community," said Oh, a senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

However, Oh, who said the internal power struggle in DAP is mainly a fight between the Chinese-speaking and English-speaking factions, does not believe Nga can pose a serious threat to Loke.

"The main power play now is between Guan Eng and Chow Kon Yeow in Penang, not beyond," he said, referring to the current Penang chief minister.