GEORGE TOWN – Close to 2,000 delegates eligible to vote in the Penang DAP elections tomorrow will be spoilt for choice on who they should vote for to be part of its leadership.
A record number of 44 candidates are vying for 15 elected slots in the party’s state committee.
Compared with its elections during the 1990s, Penang DAP today draws greater public attention over its internal goings-on, with DAP being the leading party in the state government.
The party also features a more diverse range of personalities offering to act as its leaders and a variety of pressing issues also fanned by social media.
At the national level, DAP today also has the biggest political representation in the Dewan Rakyat, with 42 seats.
Penang DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow underlined this situation in Parliament after several other parties suffered defections among their elected parliamentarians.
The elections are also taking place around the first anniversary of the wresting of federal power by Perikatan Nasional from Pakatan Harapan, of which DAP is a component.
Despite the political uncertainty looming over the party, DAP is certainly in a much stronger position than it was in the 1990s, when it failed in three consecutive general elections to make any significant inroads in Penang.
The state was then a stronghold of Gerakan, today reduced to the margins with not a single state assembly member at all.
Some elected representatives, such as Pulau Tikus assemblyman Chris Lee Chun Kit, have opted to stay out of the elections tomorrow.
Lee said he prefers to focus on his job serving his constituents and parliamentary caucus.
There has also been some attention on the 13 Indian contestants in the state party polls, with speculation that only three may be voted in, while two more may be co-opted into the state-level committee.
Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy, the DAP assemblyman for Prai, described the contest as normal in a democracy.
He pointed out that Indian representation in the party is growing as 30% of the delegates are Indians.
Call for balanced reporting
Ramasamy also dismissed a report that implied he may have to make way for a younger crop of leaders, saying that it was the writer’s “sheer imagination” and that there were attempts to wrongly portray the political situation confronting Penang DAP.
The party’s situation is more complex than what some people make it out to be, Ramasamy told The Vibes.
"All I ask is for balanced reporting on the issue. No sensationalism,” he said on such reports.
For Ramasamy, winning or losing is part of the struggle, but he said he felt it was wrong for people to spread ill intentions through a whisper campaign.
Nonetheless, the contest will be intense in light of the anticipated coming general election; those in a state DAP line-up are seen to stand a better chance of being nominated to represent DAP in the polls due by September 2023.
Bagan Dalam assemblyman M. Satees, who is contesting, stressed that the contest will be friendly despite the high participation.
Satees said that there is no factionism, although some quarters may try to impart such an impression.
Meanwhile, Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto expressed her hope that women candidates will be given a chance to excel at both the state and national levels.
She said she wants more opportunities to be given to a diverse crowd to ensure that a variety of voices is heard.
DAP has set aside a 30% quota for women candidates for the national central executive committee. – The Vibes, March 20, 2021
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