Maybe if there was a level playing field, DAP could have won in the Ketari state seat by-election yesterday. It is not easy to be an opposition party fighting the wealthy and powerful ruling coalition.

However, being an opposition party for 35 years, it should have known better than anyone else that it was equally difficult for other opposition parties like PAS, Keadilan and PRM to fight the Barisan Nasional alone or single-handedly. That was the reason why Barisan Alternatif was formed — to combine and co-ordinate resources of all the opposition parties. The BA formula certainly cannot guarantee victory in all elections and for all candidates, but it certainly would minimise losses and damages.

Thus, whether leaving BA was a right or wrong decision, it is clear that DAP was either mad or selfish in its decision-making in the past three years. Even when it was in BA, its top leaders like Karpal Singh openly attacked leaders of PAS, Keadilan and PRM as if they were the smartest or most righteous persons on earth. Ex-DAP leaders and members were "not allowed" to join Keadilan or PRM for them to continue to contribute to the opposition as a whole (want them to cross over to MCA or Gerakan so that they can be decried as 'traitors'?)

In the Sarawak state election, the withdrawal of DAP from the state BA at the eleventh hour caused confusion and disorientation in the opposition camps.

In Indera Kayangan where DAP has no organisation, its national leaders like Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh issued statements every day to the BN-controlled newspapers to demoralise Keadilan when the latter was contesting against the mighty BN machinery and money. DAP leaders and members were also openly warned not to campaign for Keadilan. Earlier, in Lunas, it attempted to stir Indian Malaysian sentiment against Keadilan.

After attacking PAS, Keadilan and PRM for two years in the BN-controlled newspapers and quitting BA, DAP suddenly found it expedient to openly ask those 'unworthy' ex-allies to help in Ketari. It is too smart by half.

I hope DAP leaders like Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh would take a few weeks leave from work and politics, and read back all their press statements or public utterances on PAS, Keadilan and PRM in the last three years. They may have forgotten what they said in the past, but other people's memory is not that short.

If there is no honest soul-searching and fundamental changes, including top leadership changes within DAP before the next general election, the future of DAP is bleak indeed.