NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS TAKING THE HELM
Former deputy minister of international trade and industry Ong Kian Ming said the polls showed a clear mandate has been given to Loke for his second term as DAP’s secretary-general. This would then allow him to put forth an agenda that will be led by the next generation of DAP leaders who are mostly in their 40s and early 50s.
“This will probably result in more younger candidates which are aligned to this new generation of DAP leaders at the state and (federal) levels in the next general elections,” said Ong, who is a former DAP CEC member and a two-term parliamentarian.
Ong – who is now director of the philosophy, politics and economic programme at Malaysia’s Taylor’s University – said that at the same time there is some continuity with the older generation of leaders mostly via the role which Lim will play as adviser to the party.
Besides Loke, those who performed well in the polls include Human Resources Minister Steven Sim, 42, and Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh, 46.
James Chin, professor of Asian studies from the University of Tasmania, told CNA that the rise of the new crop of party leaders – which include the likes of Loke, Sim and Yeoh – signals a “generational change”.
“This group believes that the DAP has to move into modern politics because they are part of the government now. You cannot have an opposition mindset anymore,” he said, adding that most of the top vote recipients joined the party between 2008 and 2018, marking a new wave of leadership.
CNA had previously reported that factions aligned to Lim Guan Eng have argued that he should be allowed to play a prominent role in the party because he remains the only DAP leader willing to speak out about the shortcomings in government and other issues.
Before the CEC vote on Sunday, he had also told the congress that while DAP would continue to support Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, it was not a “yes-man party”.
Chin believed that the members would come together after the party polls because they understood that if the party did not perform in the next round of elections, there would be a possibility that Anwar may bring other parties into his coalition.
DAP is part of the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition led by Anwar. With control of 40 parliamentary seats in the 222-member lower house, DAP is the second-largest after the opposition right-wing Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), with 43 elected representatives.
Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has 31 seats in Parliament, while PH also consists of Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) and the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation.
Echoing Chin’s sentiment, Ibrahim Suffian – who is the co-founder of the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research – also does not think the results of the internal polls on Sunday would split the DAP, as it showed that the party is changing with the times.
“There is a renewal of the party leadership that makes it more in sync with PH. I think the new line is made up of younger leaders and people who are in a sense less antagonistic and keep any criticism they might have (of the government) behind closed doors,” he said.
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