A successive spate of internal bickering within DAP over the past few months has brought to bear recurring criticisms against the leadership style of party veteran and strongman Lim Kit Siang.

At a candid exchange in a Kuala Lumpur forum yesterday with a group of young professionals, Lim was questioned relentlessly on whether his long-term leadership of the party - as secretary-general for 30 years from 1969 and then as party chairperson from 1999 onwards - had become more of a burden than a boon.

Among the tougher criticisms raised, Lim was asked to comment on the perception that his "dictatorial tendencies" (a term coined by one of his detractors) had driven away many of the party's promising leaders and whether he was guilty of nepotism by allegedly grooming his son, Guan Eng, to take over leadership of the party.

Tough in opposition

Countering this, Lim pointed out that unlike other political parties, DAP had always observed democratic decision-making principles, in that party elections are held regularly and that all decisions are made collectively by party leaders.

"It is natural for those who don't like the party to criticise. There are always ups and downs as well as personal differences. It is convenient for those who leave the party to criticise the party CEO, which happened to be me when I was secretary-general.

"I have been targetted all these decades. I have been demonised and painted as an ogre but the whole process of the controlled media that we have in the country is to put one (in the opposition) in the worst possible light," he explained while guest speaking at the Kedai Kopi talk series organised by young professionals group, Promuda.

On allegations of nepotism, Lim revealed a rarely seen side of his personal life by saying that any parent with the interest of his children at heart would not likely encourage them to join the opposition.

"Can it be said then that I also groomed him to be detained (under the ISA) as I was? In fact, my son went further than me and was also jailed in Kajang. For five years, he would be disenfranchised, he would have no vote, and no position in any society or professional work. And he was jailed not because he committed any crime but because he was defending an under-aged girl.

"These are things that Guan Eng believes in and I respect him for that. The charge of (nepotism) is one of the most unfair allegations," he asserted.

Over the recent months, DAP had suffered brickbats over problems between its national leadership and state level leaders in Pahang, Terengganu and Malacca.

In November last year, the party saw mass resignations from 15 Terengganu state leaders over the group's decision to continue cooperating with the PAS government against the wishes of the national leadership.

In the same month, the national leadership also dissolved its Pahang Triang branch in a drastic measure to deal with unresolved internal fighting.

The brewing rivalry among its Malacca state leaders also boiled over in December when DAP Malacca chief whip Sim Tong Him resigned after a quarrel with Betty Chew, who is Guan Eng's wife.

To make matters worse, a young potential, 22-year-old Jadryn Loo, quit the six posts she held at the Penang state level in December, blaming national leaders for imposing too many restraints upon her. Loo has since joined the MCA.

Incompatible with PAS

Aside from the party's internal management style, Lim also spoke on DAP's relationship with its former opposition allies, in an attempt to address the negative publicity that the party had received due to continuous inter-party bickering with Keadilan and PAS.

He dismissed suggestions that DAP had relied on support for PAS to win votes during the last general election in 1999 and said that it was the multi-ethnic front presented by the Barisan Alternatif (BA) then that attracted voters.

"We joined the BA because we wanted to form a multi-ethnic opposition force to counter the Barisan Nasional (BN) and end its political hegemony. BN's two-thirds majority is the root of the abuses of power that we have seen. What we wanted to do was to bring about a new political scenario which promotes greater accountability and democracy.

"If DAP was really reliant on PAS, we would not have left the BA in Sept 2001. We made a decision because PAS' position (on making Malaysia an Islamic state) is incompatible with the 1999 election manifesto we agreed upon," he said.

Lim also offered his frank assessment that the political opposition may do worse in the next general election due to the twin factors of the "honeymoon period" resulting from the new leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and the dampening of popular outrage over the treatment received by ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

"The Anwar factor is still relevant in the next elections but the intensity will be different. It would not be to the degree of 1999," he said.

Another factor that may affect the opposition's chances, he noted, could well be the break up of the BA coalition.

"We helped form the BA earlier to establish a multi-ethnic Malay-led opposition front headed by Keadilan and not PAS. It would not have worked without DAP. Keadilan was not fully trusted then because of its Umno roots.

"The question then was: how long would the coalition between PAS and Keadilan last without DAP? They did not have a relationship of equals. DAP joined to help bring about greater leverage for a multi-ethnic force. But at that time, we did not anticipate that PAS would emerge from the elections as the single largest opposition party," he said.

Cling on to power

Meanwhile, Lim also took the opportunity to take a jibe at rival political parties when asked whether DAP would consider joining the ruling coalition after years of struggling in the opposition.

"No political party was formed with the view to be in opposition forever. We hope to bring to fruition our principles and ideals but we do not want to (be part of the government) by hook or by crook and to cling on to a few deputy minister or parliamentary secretary posts," he said in a thinly-veiled reference to Gerakan.

Lim, however, told his audience that no matter how dissatisfied young people were with political parties, they should not view things with apathy.

"Young people should not look for excuses for not taking an interest in politics even if DAP does not fulfill your (expectations). Everyone must play an active role in the political process. It is important to bring about systematic change to the rubber-stamp role played by our Parliament and to press for the restoration of independence of our judiciary.

"How can change come? The young would have to do it," he said.

Lim was the second guest speaker at Promuda's talk series aimed at offering the opportunity for young professionals to interact with influential politicians in the country.

The first speaker was Umno supreme council member and former Umno youth chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.