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On August 16, DAP delegates will decide whether the party should remain in the unity government until the end of this parliamentary term - or withdraw.
Many will analyse the decision through the lens of political strategy. Some will calculate parliamentary numbers. Others will debate whether leaving the government would strengthen or weaken the party ahead of the next general election.
I hope the delegates will ask themselves a different question altogether.
What does DAP still mean to the people who believed in it long before Putrajaya?
Perhaps I should declare my interest before I continue.
I am a lifetime member of DAP.
For many years, I stayed away from joining any political party. I believed in remaining non-partisan and judging every politician on merit. But there came a point when I had enough of Malaysia's never-ending racial and religious politics. I realised that if I were ever going to affiliate myself with a political party, it had to be one that was not built around Malay or Muslim supremacy.
To me, DAP represented something bigger than itself.
It represented the idea that Malaysia belongs equally to all Malaysians. That government should concern itself with education, healthcare, jobs, the economy and good governance – and not constantly reminding us which race or religion should come first.
That was the Malaysia I wanted to believe in.
To tell you the truth, my affection for DAP began much earlier than I realised.
As a little girl growing up in a kampung, election season was always exciting. Everywhere you looked, there were rockets. Not just ordinary party flags, but giant rockets built several metres high. To a child, they were magnificent. I did not understand politics then. I only knew that whenever elections came around, the rocket appeared, standing proudly in the middle of my kampung.
Ironically, back then, my family were Barisan Nasional supporters.
But even then, I remember my parents speaking respectfully about DAP. They would say, "DAP is a very good opposition."
As I grew older, my father explained why.
A democracy does not only need a good government. It also needs a strong opposition. Someone has to watch the government. Someone has to question it. Someone has to ensure that power does not become arrogance.
Those words stayed with me.
Years later, as scandal after scandal surrounding UMNO and Barisan Nasional - corruption, abuse of power, cronyism and nepotism - I found myself walking away from the coalition my family had once supported.
Like millions of Malaysians, I found hope elsewhere. I found DAP.
What attracted me was not merely its policies. It was its leaders.
They spoke excellent Bahasa Malaysia. They answered difficult questions from reporters calmly, respectfully and with conviction. They projected competence instead of outrage. They did not need to shout to make their point. In a political culture so often dominated by theatrics, that professionalism mattered to me.
DAP was different.
Or at least, it felt different.
Which is why today, I find myself struggling with something that has nothing to do with coalition politics itself.
I understand political realities.
I understand that no party won enough seats to govern alone. I understand that compromise is sometimes necessary. I understand that working with former rivals can be unavoidable if it brings stability to the country.
Working together is one thing.
But becoming friends is another.
Just because you have to work with someone does not mean you have to rehabilitate their image.
When I see DAP leaders publicly celebrating UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders, enthusiastically promoting them or behaving as though decades of political hostility never existed, I cannot help but feel a sense of betrayal.
In my heart, I still hear the late Haris Ibrahim's rallying cry: Asalkan Bukan UMNO.
That slogan was never just about defeating one political party. It represented a rejection of everything that party had come to symbolise - racial politics, abuse of power, institutional arrogance and the belief that one community deserved to stand above another.
Has any of that fundamentally changed?
Even after forming the unity government, UMNO and Barisan Nasional politicians continue to play racial politics whenever it suits them. The language may be softer on some days, but the tune remains familiar.
Yet DAP often seems reluctant to call it out.
Perhaps it is to preserve harmony within the coalition. Perhaps it is to avoid embarrassing government partners. Or simply the price of governing.
But silence also sends a message.
Many of us did not support DAP because we expected it to win power.
We supported because we believed it would speak uncomfortable truths regardless of who occupied Putrajaya.
Power was never supposed to be the prize.
Principles were.
So as DAP delegates gather on Aug. 16, my plea is not necessarily that the party must leave the unity government.
If the delegates genuinely believe Malaysia is better served by remaining in government, then remain.
But please don't ask your supporters to rewrite history.
Don't ask us to pretend that those we spent decades opposing have suddenly become friends.
Don't ask us to applaud every smiling photograph, every affectionate embrace and every public display of closeness as though nothing ever happened.
Govern together if you must.
Cooperate if you must.
But don't lose the political identity that made generations of Malaysians believe in you.
At the end of the day, every party must decide what kind of leader it wants to be.
Power is temporary.
Cabinet positions are temporary.
Coalitions are temporary.
Integrity is not.
I became a lifetime member because I believed DAP would always choose principles over convenience.
I still hope it does.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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