By Tung Wan Qing and Hoo Choon Heng
The war drums are beating and the political atmosphere is heating up. With 66 contestants vying for 20 seats, expect fireworks from DAP’s National Congress and party elections on 15th and 16th December 2012. We speak to DAP’s backroom bigwigs in the organizing unit on the party’s preparations and history in view of the upcoming National Congress, plus a bit about the upcoming general elections, and the Ubah Dream Machine!
Teresa: DAP Increased Seven-fold Post 2008
DAP National Organizing Secretary Teresa Kok estimates that at least 2,500 central delegates will attend the congress to vote for 20 Central Executive Committee (CEC) Members. The CEC members will select the party top brass among themselves.Since the 2008 political tsunami swept Pakatan Rakyat to power, scores of rakyat who tasted the sweet victory are now hungrier than ever for change. DAP experienced a large influx of members, from 70,000 in 2004 to a whopping 140,000 members currently.
Teresa admitted that the sudden spike in members and new branches opening up across the nation had caught the party off guard. The Organising Unit even had to hire more people to handle the new members! However, initially messy logistics managed to be sorted out when the party’s Organising Unit acted promptly to provide assistance and increased communication with state branches.
As the Party grows, human issues are unavoidable. While regulations are formed to avoid unnecessary infighting, Teresa believes that this is a normal and healthy process in any party or organization.
Besides regulations, DAP also provides political education to the enthusiastic new members. The programs are designed and led by the Assistant Organizing Secretary Vincent Wu, and Political Education Director Anthony Loke.
By understanding the political ideas, the struggles and goals of the Party through political education, Teresa hopes that members will feel more engaged with the Party and thus willing to contribute and nurture a sense of belonging.
As the elusive 13th General Election draws closer, Teresa Kok suggests the DAP members or staff, especially those in the Organizing Unit pick up some extra skills in photography, video editing and design, in order to help to spread important information during the election.
DAP Believes in Social Democracy
Teresa spoke about the vision and mission of DAP which is once again brought to the fore in view of the coming National Congress and Party Election. DAP was founded on 18th March 1966. It is committed to establish a social democratic society, which practices democratic socialism in the institution of parliamentary democracy.
Democratic socialism desires a social order that upholds social justice, just distribution of resources, special care for the seniors, people with disabilities and sickness, and other minorities.
While this model has proved successful in Northern European countries such as Sweden and Norway, DAP has been criticized by Barisan Nasional and UMNO in particular, as a communist party. The accusation is apparently aimed to plant fear in the minds of the public so as to not vote for DAP.
In fact, there is a vast difference between democratic socialism and communism. The former follows a strict democratic institution, while the latter practices dictatorship. Communism is on extreme left, often with the use of ‘bullets’ to rule the country; whereas democracy socialism is a middle-left ideology that relies on the ballot for normal democratic process.
DAP is practicing democracy within the party itself, as compared with UMNO and MCA. The leadership of all DAP states are elected by the state delegates. UMNO and MCA will never have a chance to practice this, as the state leaders are entirely appointed by the Central leaders in Barisan Nasional.
Even the Central Leaders of DAP are elected from 20 Central Executive Committee Delegates, who have also been selected from the branches in the whole nation. From the National Chairman to the Secretary General, no one is exempted in this system. Therefore it is truly a model of collective leadership with collective responsibility, explains Teresa.
Thomas Su: Members in Branches Increased, DAP is Ready
After the 2008 political tsunami, more than 1,200 new DAP branches have been set up as the members have increased as much as 70%. According to DAP Assistant National Organizing Secretary Thomas Su, most of the new established branches are also very active in organizing activities.
For instance, DAP branches in Johor have organized a dinner with over 800 tables, attended by more than 10,000 people. This was truly unimaginable five years ago, as events and functions were hard to be held in small states due to the lack of resources, manpower, and financial support.
However those days are over. Now, one can easily feel the passion and hope for change even in the states that are used to be inactive, such as Kedah and Perlis. DAP’s vision and actions have also attracted many professionals and successful businessmen to join, contribute and to arm the Party with talents.
Strength of Veterans
While new members are encouraging and supportive, Thomas also expresses his heartfelt appreciation to the experienced old members. There are indeed some differences among the old and new members in the way they see things, the values they hold and the way they work. As a growing party, Thomas believes that the minor differences will not affect the collective vision of DAP in bringing a new social order to our country.
This is when political education could help enhancing the values and ideas of DAP to the new members, in order to connect all members together to focus on the collective vision despite their differences.
Tan Seng Giaw: It Can Be Done!
Seven-time Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw is no stranger to elections. He has seen many epic battles in his years working hard for the party machinery. Met at the Kepong leg of the Ubah Dream Machine tour, the DAP Vice Chairman expressed hope that more people will wake up to the reality of BN’s monstrous visage.
Tan points out that the BN juggernaut is greatly weakened after 2008, especially MCA which has lost its importance within the government as well as to the rakyat. “The people have lost trust in the government, especially as they are more exposed to the alternative and social media.”
While everyone is impatiently awaiting for the election date to be announced Prime Minister Najib is still biding his time, with no imminent signs of dissolving parliament. Tan says that this shows a lack of confidence on Najib’s part. “The Prime Minister’s reluctance to dissolve Parliament demonstrates his worry that BN will not perform well. Of course, it is possible that he needs more time to ‘touch up’ behind the scenes, for instance movement on the electoral roll, and other ‘election strategies’. But we are ready to face all this,” he said. – The Rocket
