I HAVE read writer Murray Hunter’s commentary in The Vibes.
He described PBM, which I am helping to advance, as embodying the people‑centred democracy, transparency, fairness, justice and universal values that the early‑era DAP upheld.
He also suggested that DAP may one day have to confront “its own ghosts@ past shadow” in PBM.
I appreciate his observation, yet one point must be clarified:
I have no interest in recreating the old DAP, nor should PBM become a carbon copy of any other political party.
I spent more than forty-odd years in DAP, and there is no need for me to disavow that chapter of history.
The correct values I stood by back then, I still uphold today.
Leaving a party does not mean one must reject one’s own past.
Joining a new party also does not mean reproducing the old one.
The challenges facing Malaysia today are no longer the same as they were two or three decades ago.
The public does not merely need a party bold enough to criticise the government. They need answers to far harder questions:
If you are given power, how will you govern?
How do you ensure public funds are not misused?
How can institutions prevent corruption rather than only arresting people after scandals break out?
How do policies get measured for success or failure using data?
For every Ringgit the government spends, how much public value does it actually generate?
When different ethnic communities face identical problems, can they expect equal treatment under the same standards?
These are the political questions that matter most to me now.
Therefore, I will not frame PBM as “the old DAP”, still less make our political mission about proving who is the “genuine DAP”.
DAP has its own history and the right to chart its own future. PBM must forge its own path.
DAP has decided to remain in the administration.
Having made that choice, what truly matters moving forward is no longer endless debate over whether it should stay or withdraw.
It is to deliver tangible results using the power it holds.
Ultimately, the people will not only ask:
“Why did you stay?”
They will ask:
“What have you achieved since you stayed?”
Should PBM one day receive the people’s mandate, we cannot prove our worth solely by criticising others.
We too must accept being judged by the very same yardstick:
What problems have you solved? What institutions have you built? How many lives have you improved?
One nation ought to live by one set of standards.
Rather than PBM being seen as DAP’s shadow from the past, I hope that one day the public will recognise:
PBM does not represent the past of any single party. It represents the future Malaysian politics ought to move toward.
Politics cannot forever be trapped in a zero‑sum game of who replaces whom.
What truly deserves to be replaced are broken institutions, double standards, unaccountable power, and the old style of politics that only chases political gains while failing to solve ordinary people’s problems.
Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) recently appointed former DAP leader Ronnie Liu Thian Khiew as its new information chief
