Since its debacle in the Sabah state election, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) appears to be at the end of its political tether within the unity government. Three years after the 2022 general election, dissatisfaction among its supporters has reached what may be a breaking point. What began as murmurs of unease has now evolved into open warnings, ultimatums, and even talk of reconsidering its place in government.
In the first one to two years of Anwar Ibrahim’s administration, DAP could still appeal to patience. The message to supporters was simple: decades of institutional decay, corruption, racialised policy distortions, and bureaucratic stagnation could not be undone overnight. Reform would take time. Stability was fragile. Compromise was necessary.
But as the third year unfolds, that patience has worn thin.
Anwar’s political instinct — to retreat and live to fight another day rather than risk confrontation in the name of principle — may be tactically defensible. Yet for DAP’s core base, it increasingly feels like capitulation. The moral energy that propelled Pakatan Harapan back into federal power in 2022 was rooted in reformist zeal: anti-corruption, institutional independence, equal treatment under the law. When those principles appear negotiable, supporters begin to ask what exactly their victory achieved.
In the 2022 election, DAP was arguably the biggest winner within the coalition that formed government. While Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) won more seats as an individual party, its coalition failed to form the federal administration. DAP, on the other hand, emerged as the largest party within the governing bloc. In democratic politics, winning carries an expectation of gains. That is the essence of victory.
Yet many DAP supporters feel they have gained little — if anything.
On bread-and-butter community issues, long-standing demands remain unresolved. The recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) continues to stall. Hindu temple relocation disputes and land regularisation problems persist. Education allocations, equitable funding concerns, and minority policy anxieties linger without decisive breakthroughs.
More troubling for many supporters is not merely the absence of self-interested gains, but the erosion of principled ones. DAP voters did not stand by the party solely for communal benefits. They rallied behind it for systemic reform — to strengthen oversight institutions, uphold prosecutorial independence, and dismantle entrenched patronage networks. These were national aspirations, not sectarian demands.
And now, even those ambitions appear adrift.
The latest controversy — Bloomberg’s reports alleging share ownership irregularities and possible “corporate mafia” collusion involving the leadership of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) — may represent the final straw. The reports once again place MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki at the centre of controversy, reviving questions first raised in 2022 about share ownership exceeding permitted limits.
In Parliament this week, DAP lawmaker Khoo Poay Tiong delivered what sounded less like a routine debate and more like a political warning shot. Speaking during deliberations on the Auditor-General’s Report in the Dewan Rakyat, he called for Azam to step down and urged the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate both the earlier share ownership issue and the new Bloomberg allegations.
His message was stark: “Either he goes or we go.” He warned that failure to act could cost the government the next general election.
This is extraordinary language from a government backbencher. It reflects not merely personal frustration but institutional anxiety within DAP. Khoo noted that while the government had formed a special task force to examine the share ownership controversy, there had been no clear and decisive action regarding the alleged corporate collusion. He argued that an RCI was necessary not only to uncover the truth but to clear MACC’s name.
Malaysia’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranking had recently improved to 54th place. Yet, as Khoo cautioned, those gains could quickly be reversed if the government appeared unwilling to confront allegations at the highest levels of its anti-corruption apparatus.
The symbolism matters. When an anti-corruption chief faces unresolved allegations, the credibility of reform suffers. When reform credibility suffers, the moral foundation of the unity government weakens. And when that foundation weakens, DAP’s political calculus becomes perilous.
The Auditor-General’s latest report compounds the anxiety. It revealed 273 new issues, including irregularities such as RM28.13 million spent under the MyDigital project without proper committee approval. While bureaucratic weaknesses are not new, they reinforce a perception that systemic reform remains incomplete.
DAP supporters are now confronting a troubling paradox: they won electorally, yet feel politically diminished. They hold power, yet perceive impotence. They are inside government, yet sense little transformative momentum.
This perception may help explain DAP’s crushing performance in the Sabah state election. If voters conclude that participation in federal power yields neither communal benefit nor institutional reform, then enthusiasm evaporates. Electoral coalitions depend not only on arithmetic but on morale. When morale collapses, turnout drops. When turnout drops, defeat follows.
If the party continues urging patience without visible reform breakthroughs, similar setbacks could await in Sarawak’s coming state election — and eventually in the next general election.
DAP’s recent assertiveness — including forceful parliamentary calls for Azam’s resignation — appears less like rebellion and more like political self-preservation. It is an attempt to demonstrate to its base that it remains committed to principle, even within the constraints of coalition politics.
The unity government was always an uneasy marriage of necessity. It was formed to prevent political instability and to keep more polarising forces from power. But necessity can only sustain a coalition for so long. Eventually, moral legitimacy must accompany numerical legitimacy.
For Anwar, the choice is delicate. He governs a coalition stitched together from former rivals, regional blocs, and competing interests. Aggressive action against powerful figures risks internal fractures. Yet inaction risks something equally dangerous: the slow erosion of reformist credibility.
For DAP, the dilemma is existential. If it remains silent, it risks alienating its core supporters. If it pushes too hard, it risks destabilising the government it helped form. Walking that tightrope becomes harder with each unresolved controversy.
The warning delivered in Parliament was therefore not just about one man or one agency. It was about the survival of a political narrative — that 2022 marked not merely a change of administration, but the beginning of structural reform.
If DAP’s supporters come to believe that their “victory” was hollow — that they gained neither self-interest concessions nor national reform achievements — then that victory may indeed be reinterpreted as a species of defeat.
And in politics, perceptions often become reality long before ballots are cast.
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