Will the real DAP stand up and be counted? I guess not. Only those who are brave and not swayed by the lust of power will do that.
In less than a span of 10 days, we saw the worst of this political force who were prepared to sleep with the enemy just to get back into power in Perak when the need for a new government in the state arose.
Perak DAP chairman Nga Kor Ming announced that the party was prepared to work with Umno because there “was a need for a government based on their principles of integrity and good governance”. Really?
Unless I am mistaken, I thought the DAP believed all along that Umno – the cornerstone of every government until GE14 – was led by “kleptocratic leaders”.
Were it none other than Umno leaders who branded you as a Chinese chauvinist party that wanted to see the end of Bumiputera privileges?
Are you not the same DAP that helped bring down the Barisan Nasional because you said enough is enough? Did you not say the BN has suckered us taxpayers of our hard-earned money through the years? Integrity and good governance you now say?
Do you think Umno suddenly turned around?
Nga and the DAP were made the biggest fools in this Perak affair by none other than Umno and its president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Likewise PKR.
Both parties fell into the Umno trap when Zahid said Umno was prepared to work with Pakatan Harapan in seeking a solution to the forming of the new Perak government. Either you did not see Umno’s game plan and fell for it hook, line and sinker or you have lost your senses completely.
You were being used to the hilt. You were outsmarted and ended up with a carton of eggs on your face. Only two of your YBs in Perak smelled a rat, from what we can see, but the DAP leadership in Perak itself was in my opinion, in a drunken stupor over this proposed possible harmonious working relationship based on “integrity and good governance”.
Simply put: you sold yourself to the enemy at the expense of your own principles, integrity and credibility.
Then, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang declared that the DAP will never work with kleptocrats. Kit Siang should have said that the moment Zahid announced that Umno was prepared to work with PH to form the Perak state government. But Kit Siang said nothing.
Only now when it dawned on him that the DAP had been played did Kit Siang come up with such a statement. At best it is too late. Needless to say, it is also hollow and absurd to declare such a stand as an afterthought.
The DAP die-hard supporters and those who revere Kit Siang may not agree with what I am saying but you only need to ask yourself this question. Do you really believe that Umno would forgo their support for you? Do you honestly and truly believe that a party that has used you as a scapegoat and punching bag for decades would now suddenly woo you at the expense of their over three million members?
How do you think your supporters are feeling now knowing that you were prepared to compromise on your principles and values for the sake of quenching your thirst for power?
I dont know if anything you have to say after this affair will carry the weight that your words used to have.
It matters not to me, but it should matter to your self-belief and your conscience.
Clement Stanley is an FMT reader
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.