DAPs alternatives
The real problem for the opposition is, in my humble opinion, DAP. Like it or hate it, it has a following. However, the recent spate of events seems to show that the 35-year-old opposition party is disorientated, indecisive and blur about its own future.
Let me give some examples and patterns that should be a cause of grave concern for oppositionists and supporters of democracy and human rights.
After withdrawing from BA, DAP seems to have decided to position itself as a party in between two major camps, namely Barisan Nasional and Barisan Alternatif.
Can it work given its limited or even decreasing organisational influence among Malaysians?
In politics, domestic and international, only strong states and organisations are capable of playing the role of balancer. Otherwise, it is just a paper tiger.
For the Malays/Muslims, there is now a complete range of political options for them: The pro-government and pro-establishment will support and vote for Umno or the BN to protect their self-interests; those who reject Umno or protest against it for whatever reasons, will either join and support PAS or Keadilan, depending on their understanding of politics and society as Muslims.
It is almost impossible now to hope for Malay/Muslim Malaysians, save a few odd individuals, to join or lead DAP. DAP is thus firmly locked in the non-Malay/non-Muslim community.
However, within the non-Malay/Muslim community, DAP is not the strongest party. For a start, DAP has to compete with MCA and Gerakan for Chinese and Indian Malaysian votes.
Now, it has also to compete with the multi-ethnic opposition, Keadilan, which has attracted a certain degree of Chinese Malaysian attention and support, especially among the younger generation.
Logically, there are only a few alternatives for DAP in the future:
One, rejoin BA as a member of the balancing, not ideological, alliance against the common threat from BN;
Two, echo the chorus of BN, including Umno and MCA's propagandists to destroy Keadilan, to prevent it from competing for opposition support among non-Malays/Muslims, even at the cost of pushing Keadilan's Malays/Muslims back into Umno, or leaving them disillusioned with politics altogether.
In this scenario, all DAP could hope for is to eventually replace MCA and Gerakan as Umno's Chinese partner in BN;
Three, continue to fight lonely and disorganised battles, hitting at BN and BA randomly on issues defined or set by the BN-controlled media, as a permanently self-styled Chinese opposition party outside the two major camps, satisfying itself with gaining a few more seats in the next election to be a mere a watchdog of the powerful BN government.
As it has rejected the option of returning to BA, and feels threatened by the inroads made by Keadilan in the Chinese community and non-Malay opposition forces, the only option is the second: helping Umno and BN to first destroy Keadilan so that it could expand or regain its living space as a permanent opposition posing no serious challenge to Umno's regime.
It is from this perspective that we should read the many statements and comments of DAP's top leaders on the political situations in the country today.
However, if DAP succeeds in destroying Keadilan and weakening PAS, it does not necessarily mean that DAP will regain its past glory because Umno, as a secular nationalist party that practises semi-fascism, will still like the more dependable and submissive MCA and Gerakan.
DAP will eventually find itself used by Umno in its moment of disorientation and vain opportunism.
It is time DAP really think in the longer term and with a larger framework in mind, instead of just working on how to ensure that Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh will regain their parliamentary seats in the next general election.
At certain points, statespersons have to sacrifice themselves to save the whole situation or for the benefit of the future generations of the nation.
