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PUTRAJAYA - DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said the party must continue working to overcome the “walls” created by racial politics if it wants to broaden its acceptance among Malaysians, despite a series of electoral setbacks.
In his keynote speech at the party’s national congress today, Loke said his decision to contest Chennah during the Aug 1 Negeri Sembilan state election was not based solely on personal considerations, but was also intended to show that DAP could secure support across racial communities.
However, he acknowledged that the party failed to gain the level of support from Malay and Orang Asli voters that it had hoped for.
“The result showed that we still need to find ways to break through the ‘walls’ of racial politics if we want to broaden DAP’s acceptance among Malaysians,” the Transport Minister said.
Loke lost Chennah to Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Siow Kong Choon by 688 votes in the Negeri Sembilan polls.
The defeat ended Loke's more than decade-long hold on the state seat and became one of the most significant setbacks for DAP in the polls.
DAP won nine seats in the state election but failed to retain the two constituencies.
Two days after the election, on Aug 3, Loke announced his resignation as DAP Negeri Sembilan chairman, a position he had held for 22 years, taking responsibility for the party's losses in Chennah and Repah.
Loke also apologised to party delegates over his defeat in Chennah.
“I apologise to the delegates for this defeat in Chennah,” he said during the DAP Conference at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here today.
Despite the setbacks, Loke urged party members not to allow electoral defeats to weaken their commitment to DAP's political struggle.
“Elections have their victories and defeats. We have 60 years of electoral experience. We faced many defeats in the early days of our struggle, but we did not give up and continued moving forward.
“As long as we do not give up, DAP's future will be accepted by the majority of Malaysians,” he said.
Loke's remarks came as DAP held a historic internal referendum today to determine whether its leaders should remain in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's federal Cabinet or withdraw from their executive positions.
A total of 4,264 delegates representing 1,704 branches will vote by secret ballot on whether DAP's five ministers and seven deputy ministers should retain their Cabinet positions for the remainder of the parliamentary term.
The referendum followed a series of electoral setbacks for Pakatan Harapan, including poor performances in Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan.
The party's Central Executive Committee had originally scheduled the referendum for July 12 but postponed it on June 4 to Aug 16 to accommodate the Johor and Negeri Sembilan election campaigns.
The debate over whether DAP should remain in the Cabinet has centred on whether continued participation in government would allow the party to deliver reforms and maintain political stability or whether withdrawing would enable it to distance itself from unpopular policies and rebuild its grassroots support ahead of the next general election.
Supporters of leaving the Cabinet have argued that the move could pressure Anwar's administration to accelerate reforms, while opponents have warned that DAP's withdrawal could create political instability and strengthen conservative political forces.
Even if DAP's ministers and deputy ministers were to relinquish their executive positions, the party's 40 Members of Parliament were expected to continue supporting Anwar's administration in Parliament to prevent the government from collapsing.
