Not so long ago, DAP had only some 15,000 members and yet could win a fair number of parliamentary and state seats. It relied mainly on non-member supporters who voted in the people's representatives. If we were to look at the total number of votes for DAP, it was disproportionate to the number of members. Now, it has easily over 100,000 members and managed to secure 38 parliamentary seats to become the largest opposition party in Parliament. Again, most of the voters were non-members to make this possible.
I believe having a small membership has its advantages as it had less problems with members. Maybe, success at the polls have created new demands from existing as well as potential candidates and this led to disillusionment when not re-selected or selected as candidates in the GE.
Besides problems with some of the mainly Chinese and Indian members, now DAP is faced with problems from the small number of Malay members. Recently we had witnessed how a supposedly good catch like Tunku Aziz could, after leaving the party, turned out to be its worst critic ever. Then we had Zulkifli Mohd Noor and Rahmad Ishahak, who among other things, criticised the party leaders for not looking after Malay interests, like no Malay candidate in Penang in GE13 and no Malay CEC member elected.
I find it amusing when Zulkifli (an ex-Vice Chairman) said he wanted to stand for CEC election and hope to be Chairman of the party. On the one hand, when a Malay was appointed to become CEC member, people criticised it as for show only, yet Zulkifli made known his wish to be party Chairman! Without proper support, isn't that worse? I think this would only be necessary when it is going to affect the operations of the party (like in a company where it is necessary to secure government contracts), otherwise, surely a Malay leader in DAP is expected to bring in sufficient supporters so that he could secure victory at CEC election, and not merely be appointed. There are exceptions, like for example, if someone is of sufficient stature and is popular even among non-Malay members of the party.
In the case of criticism for the lack of Malay DAP candidates in Penang, I am sure this had a lot to do with election strategies with top priority for success, as well as having to deal with its Pakatan partners, PKR and PAS. Whether we like it or not, we cannot escape from racial politics, and PKR and PAS were supposed to provide mainly Malay candidates. It was unfortunate that DAP's success seemed to be at the expense of its Malay partners. Umno managed to put fear in rural Malays that they will lose out if Pakatan were to win the GE.
I know it is too late, if Zulkifli and Rahmad had already burned their bridges with DAP leadership. Otherwise, it would be interesting to see sufficient Malays applying to become members and this could really alter the racial composition of the party. But I am afraid with the recent outbursts by disillusioned Malay members, DAP is likely to be extra careful when considering membership applications from Malays.
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I believe having a small membership has its advantages as it had less problems with members. Maybe, success at the polls have created new demands from existing as well as potential candidates and this led to disillusionment when not re-selected or selected as candidates in the GE.
Besides problems with some of the mainly Chinese and Indian members, now DAP is faced with problems from the small number of Malay members. Recently we had witnessed how a supposedly good catch like Tunku Aziz could, after leaving the party, turned out to be its worst critic ever. Then we had Zulkifli Mohd Noor and Rahmad Ishahak, who among other things, criticised the party leaders for not looking after Malay interests, like no Malay candidate in Penang in GE13 and no Malay CEC member elected.
I find it amusing when Zulkifli (an ex-Vice Chairman) said he wanted to stand for CEC election and hope to be Chairman of the party. On the one hand, when a Malay was appointed to become CEC member, people criticised it as for show only, yet Zulkifli made known his wish to be party Chairman! Without proper support, isn't that worse? I think this would only be necessary when it is going to affect the operations of the party (like in a company where it is necessary to secure government contracts), otherwise, surely a Malay leader in DAP is expected to bring in sufficient supporters so that he could secure victory at CEC election, and not merely be appointed. There are exceptions, like for example, if someone is of sufficient stature and is popular even among non-Malay members of the party.
In the case of criticism for the lack of Malay DAP candidates in Penang, I am sure this had a lot to do with election strategies with top priority for success, as well as having to deal with its Pakatan partners, PKR and PAS. Whether we like it or not, we cannot escape from racial politics, and PKR and PAS were supposed to provide mainly Malay candidates. It was unfortunate that DAP's success seemed to be at the expense of its Malay partners. Umno managed to put fear in rural Malays that they will lose out if Pakatan were to win the GE.
I know it is too late, if Zulkifli and Rahmad had already burned their bridges with DAP leadership. Otherwise, it would be interesting to see sufficient Malays applying to become members and this could really alter the racial composition of the party. But I am afraid with the recent outbursts by disillusioned Malay members, DAP is likely to be extra careful when considering membership applications from Malays.
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