Can Dap Ever Work With Umno

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“Now, they (DAP) are finally aware that Umno is the strongest grassroots party in the country. Embarrassed or not, like it or not, dare to admit it or not... they are forced to acknowledge this situation.”
- Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan
DAP Secretary-general Anthony Loke’s recent public comments about possibly working with Umno depending on the results of the next general election reflect the reality of the dead-end politics here in Malaysia.
Bipartisanship is one thing, but I find it difficult to believe that DAP and Umno could collaborate in any meaningful way beyond advancing certain public policies and even then, this is a dodgy proposition.
“I will not rule out anything because what is important is that we (all parties) must be agenda based,” said Loke, which is strange because the only agenda Umno has is race and religion and governing is a byproduct of that which includes systemic corruption and political malfeasance.
And yes, if there is some kind of reform within Umno, even if it remains a race-based party, then something could be worked out. But with this bunch? Even the anti-court cluster cartel is no better than former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and company. It is just that they have not been caught.
The geriatric cartels within Umno want young blood if only to sustain the system in place, which is vital for the bureaucratic structures that Umno took decades to subvert and corrupt.
Would younger Umno leaders be any different from their older counterparts? Would younger Umno leaders realise that the corrosive agenda of race and religion coupled with systemic corruption has brought this country to the brink of failed statehood?
Faustian bargain
I have no idea what someone like Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz means when he uses the term “democracy”, but if it means working across the aisle, this is a good start for these young leaders.
Do not get me wrong, I have argued before that as the biggest race-based parties on the block, it makes political sense for the DAP and Umno to collaborate now that the MCA is negligible when it comes to the Chinese vote, but things can change for the MCA as it did for the DAP.
Remember when the ever entertaining Nazri in 2018, who was then tourism and culture minister, got MCA and Gerakan’s knickers in a twist? This was when he took his shots at both after bad-mouthing billionaire and philanthropist Robert Kuok and claimed that DAP represented the Chinese community and not these two parties.
Asked to clarify, he said, “I said the voice of the Chinese after the 2013 general election is DAP. Is that wrong? I am friends with DAP because I respect democracy.
“I want to carry out tourism work in Seremban and in Penang. These are DAP areas. I cannot leave them aside.”
Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul AzizSo yeah, if DAP operatives can work with an Umno insider like Nazri, anything is possible in the land of endless possibilities. By making a Faustian bargain and working with Bersatu, DAP demonstrated that working with morally suspect and corruption-tainted politicians was not an impediment to “saving Malaysia”.
Theoretically, when you move beyond the rhetoric of both sides, which is mainly for their respective bases anyway, the idea of working together is not anathema. It is just tricky because both bases have been riled up to demonise the other.
The problem, of course, is that the DAP has always seemed eager to hook up with any Malay power structure if it means the possibility of federal power. This, of course, leaves their supposedly Malay anchor party (PKR) in a conundrum.
It does not help that Loke (as the head honcho of DAP) brings up old ghosts by putting PKR president Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister issue on the front burners.
“Of course, the position right now is Anwar as the leader of Pakatan Harapan, it’s a natural choice but I think that (the PM candidate) depends very much on the outcome of the next election (GE15),” Loke said.
Really? So if the outcome is not a clear majority and alliances have to be formed, then Anwar’s position as the prime minister candidate is in jeopardy? If this is not a recipe for disaster, I do not know what is.
Keep in mind that recently PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli – who is wrestling his own political tigers – said that PKR was given a word or two to accept Bersatu to save Malaysia and, if not, Harapan could split apart.
PKR president Anwar IbrahimWorking with Umno
Working with Umno means holding your tongue. Much like MCA was accused of doing, while DAP supporters want action from their representatives, even if it means barking very loudly. And we know how DAP can make compromises when it feels it needs to.
For decades, the running dog narrative was used against the MCA until the realisation of working with Malay power structures hit home when DAP realised that Malay expectations when it came to power-sharing trumped the Bangsa Malaysia kool-aid it was peddling to the base.
Remember that train wreck of an interview that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave to Malaysiakini, where he demeaned Lim Guan Eng and claimed that the DAP agreed to policies drafted by so-called Malay intellectuals and gave the Chinese community less compared to the Malays?
“We still have to give them, but what we gave to them was very small (compared to what the Malays got). But we could not say it then because then the Chinese would be angry.
“That’s why we didn’t talk about that. But now we have to because I have to explain this thing,” Mahathir said.
Now, if it was this bad when it came to working with an ally, how would it be when working with Umno, which has made it clear it wants to be the only Malay uber alles game in town?
Forget about the old maverick. The reality is that power needs to be decentralised, institutions need to be reformed, and legacy corruption projects need to be dealt with. Does anyone think that Umno or the DAP would be willing to do this?
What the DAP brings to any kind of coalition is the majority backing of a voting demographic and, hence, they can claim to be the “voice” of the community on secular and egalitarian issues. However, did it play out this way when the DAP was in the federal government?
Harapan’s religious czar Mujahid Yusof Rawa was busy attempting to burnish his and Harapan’s Islamic credentials, and no attempt was made to change the Islamic narrative in this country. And the DAP had to keep quiet lest they spook the Malays.
Maybe, and this is a big maybe, the DAP could work out arrangements like the deal brokered by Tony Pua and Ong Kian Ming with Muhyiddin but was stupidly rejected by Harapan with Umno. These perhaps are more realistic arrangements which could be the start of normalcy between the two parties.
As it stands, DAP and Umno, possibly working together, is much like how Orwell defined doublethink: “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” - Mkini
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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