OCT 2 — The DAP’s Central Executive Council (CEC) leadership line-up elected in December last year was re-elected on 29 September. Although it had been expected that the number of votes received by some candidates would increase or decrease, it reflected the subtle changes resulting from the party factional fighting.
An indisputable fact is, through the CEC re-election, the opposition faction has called for checks and balances for the strong leadership of Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng. Both father and son had received fewer votes, and Guan Eng even fell from second place to fifth in the ranking, reflecting the rise of forces of the opposition faction. The changes have been met with much concern.
In a democratic country, party election is also important in the practice of democracy. Competition in party election could indeed evolve into dispute and division, but there is also a positive side. If party election can help the party elect a group of outstanding leaders, it will complement a powerful force for the party’s future.
It provides not only new room for the development of party democracy, but also opportunity for reform. However, the political field has always been filled with disputes over interests. Once factional fighting turns over-intense, party elections will become a dispute between vested interest groups. The life-or-death battle among factions will weaken the party’s overall forces and become unfavourable to the party’s growth and development.
How to have a high-quality party election should be the target of all political parties as it is also a crucial foundation for the party’s growth and democratic politics.
The DAP re-election was notable in part because it gained a brilliant victory in the general election this year, allowing chairman Karpal Singh to have an extremely high expectation of seizing Putrajaya in the future.
It is also because the party re-election was held following an order from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) after its finding of irregularities in the original polls held last December 15. In addition, Ladang Paroi DAP branch chief David Dass had applied on September 10 for an injunction to stop the special congress on grounds that it was illegal to call for a special congress to hold CEC elections, leading to Guan Eng describing the incident a “political revenge”.
In the event, the DAP held the re-election successfully. In addition to some arguments over the number of votes gained by some candidates, one point worthy of more concern is, did the party election enhance democracy in the party after going through a series of internal and external tests and controversies? Did the party election lend a significance that can be drawn by others to enhance democracy in the country? Or is the party just marking time and even becoming more like the MCA, trapped in the quagmire of factional fighting, as some outside the party have alleged?
A well-organised political party must make governance its long-term goal. And the prerequisite to win political power is, the party must have the ability to win the general election. In other words, whether the political party has the ability to win political power and whether it is able to bring well-being to its country and people after gaining power are two different matters.
The pace of social development is unstoppable and therefore, all political parties, including the ruling and alternative coalitions, must externally move with the times, reform according to social development, and become more diverse, democratic, open and tolerant, while internally unite and implement the essence of compromise when they come across disagreement. Otherwise, the alternative coalition would find no way to gain power while the ruling coalition would be spurned by voters. It is an irrefutable truth in the politics of modern democratic parties. — Sin Chew Daily
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.
