KUALA LUMPUR: After scoring an unprecedented victory in the March 8 general election, political observers say that many DAP members appear not to have come to terms with the unexpected win and continue to bask in the glory of the triumph, which saw one of the oldest opposition parties in the country capturing 28 parliamentary and 73 state seats, including the Penang government.

Judging from the DAP’s election of top national office bearers at the party’s 15th National Congress last weekend, it seems quite obvious that the party’s grassroots want the current core leadership, who had been instrumental in the successful outcome of the general election, to continue to lead.

“It seems that they want the present batch of leaders. All they did was to vote the present batch of leaders in again and at the same time they also made some cosmetic changes by putting in a few new and young members…but the core decision makers remain,” said DAP central executive committee (CEC) member Teng Chang Khim.

He said although the delegates had voted in a few “rebels”, the “core of the old guards” was still very much in control of the CEC, the DAP’s highest decision-making body.

“I didn’t see any significant changes. They (members) are still in a state of euphoria. Some are still clouded with the greatest achievement ever (by the party),” he summed up.

The election of 20 CEC members at the congress saw only two young leaders —Tony Pua and Gobind Singh Deo — breaking into the CEC.

But both are said to be strongly associated with the current party top leadership, namely its secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng, who is Penang chief minister, and party chairman Karpal Singh.

Pua, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP, is the economic advisor to Lim while Gobind Singh, the Puchong MP, is Karpal Singh’s son.

The euphoria was evident from the first day of the two-day congress when posters of all DAP parliamentarians and state assemblymen were grabbed by the delegates, eager to get them autographed.

However, party leaders do not see this as a sign of euphoria but feel that this is normal since the party never expected to gain much from the March 8 political tsunami, which saw the ruling Barisan Nasional losing four states —Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor — besides Kelantan, which was already in the hands of PAS, to Pakatan Rakyat, the loose coalition of opposition parties.

“Now we are living in dreamland. You must have a dream. So, we hope with these results, we will be able to consolidate what we have engineered for the future,” said DAP Sarawak chairman Richard Wong Ho Leng.

Wong said results of the party polls showed that the delegates were more concerned about solidarity in the party than anything else.

They also wanted tested leaders to stay on to helm the party and therefore it was only natural that they picked the old guards.

“To say that the party is in a state of euphoria is not exactly correct,” the Sarawak DAP head said, adding that the selection of tested leaders was in line with the current political scene in the country, especially now, with Pakatan Rakyat formed after the political tsunami.

“To ensure credibility, solidarity and to foster relationship, we need core leaders in the DAP,” he said, adding that this explained why DAP grassroots leaders were inclined to place their faith in the old guards.

Melaka DAP chairman Sim Tong Hin was more diplomatic, saying that the party would take some time to inject new blood as “we can’t afford to have drastic changes in the party leadership.” However, this did not mean that the DAP had not undergone changes as there were quite a number of new delegates in the middle-age category compared with a few years ago when the delegates were mostly veterans and hardcore party members.

Despite the strong presence of the old guards, DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang, said there was enough room for everyone.

“There is room for everything. We have a high threshold of tolerance for disunity and even more for dissidents,” he told Bernama.

However, he did not deny that the party needed to change to keep abreast with the latest political developments but what was more important was that the leadership would provide enough room for everyone to play a role for the betterment of the DAP.

“If we do this, more young blood will come in and slowly they will become dominant,” he added.

His view was shared by DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) chief Nga Kor Ming, who said the delegates showed that “dissidents” were not marginalised in the DAP compared with other political parties.

“It’s a well-balanced team consisting of professionals. We even have ‘’dissidents’’ in the CEC, we won’t suppress them as we respect the decision of the delegates to have such a team,” said the DAP youth chief.

— Bernama