By Adrian Lim
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak has only managed to retain two seats in the 12th Sarawak Election in contrast to the seven seats it won in the 2016 Sarawak Election and 12 seats in the 2011 Sarawak Election.
The seats are Padungan and Pending.
Padungan was won by its chairman Chong Chieng Jen while Pending incumbent Violet Yong retained her seat.
It is obvious that the Chinese community has lost confidence for this Opposition party which was able to control political narratives and whose support base has been built among the Chinese for the past decade.
Apart from being the advocates for Chinese issues, DAP also played the role of the Opposition in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN). To a certain extent, it has managed to provide the duty of check and balance in DUN.
There are many factors leading to the Chinese community losing its confidence in DAP, which has been seen as the party championing their issues for the last 10 years.
The most crucial factor perhaps is the failure of DAP to fulfil its promises after taking over the Federal government for 22 months.
Firstly, Chong, who was the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak chairman prior to the 14th General Election (GE14) had promised to provide 20 per cent oil and gas royalty and return 50 per cent of tax collected to Sarawak.
However, after PH took over the Federal government, Chong changed his tone and stressed that the promise of 20 per cent oil and gas royalty came with conditions tied to education and health autonomy.
Secondly, some of the infrastructure projects such as the construction of the Batang Lupar bridge was abolished when former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng who is also DAP secretary-general became the Finance Minister.
In view of that, the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government had to take over the responsibility and bear the cost of the construction of the bridge which serves as a vital link for rural development.
Thirdly, DAP continued to blame the former Barisan Nasional (BN) administration for the sorry state of the nation.
On one occasion, Lim had even gone as far as commenting that Sarawak would go bankrupt in three years’ time under GPS.
With all the talks and finger pointing, DAP had failed to deliver.
What DAP failed to do, GPS has proved otherwise.
Under GPS, the coalition has managed to increase the State’s revenue through the imposition of five per cent State Sales Tax (SST).
Chinese primary schools and independent schools continued to receive financial grants which is a continuation of the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem’s policy as well as the recognition of the United Examination Certificate (UEC).
Houses of worships ranging from churches, Buddhist temples, Chinese temples, Indian temples, Sikh temples, Bahai and other places of worship received funds from Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) to meet their needs.
These showed that GPS policy was inclusive and prioritises “Sarawak First”.
It’s undeniable that GPS has walked the talk and has given DAP less ammunition with which it could use to attack the government.
Likewise, the fall of DAP Sarawak in this election comes as no surprise as there are already signs showing that the party is weakening.
Back in Feb 2020, Dr Ting Tiong Choon who was Pujut assemblyman was disqualified by the Federal Court for having dual citizenship despite him renouncing it before contesting in the last State Election.
Another sign showing that the party has weakened was the fact that former Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei suddenly resigned from the party in July 2020, citing a loss of faith with the party’s leadership.
Wong said that he was disillusioned with the direction and the way the party has been managed, which has completed deviated from the aims, objectives and struggle in the early days when he first joined in 2006.
His statement suggested that the party is facing some internal issues, which does not bode well in the eyes of the public.
In politics, a good reputation and track record are important to gain the public’s trust and support.
However, DAP Sarawak has been making the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Perhaps, it is no coincidence that DAP’s performance in the 12th Sarawak Election was a reflection of the changing sentiment of voters and unfulfilled promises which has contributed to the party losing more seats this time around. — DayakDaily
