ALOR STAR: DAP’s decision to work together with its former number one political nemesis Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is a sheer proof that the party has deviated from its original struggles.
As such, despite bloating that the party still commanded the support of the Chinese community, DAP could be losing the support from its own veteran members, former Kedah DAP chairman Lee Guan Aik said.
Lee claimed that DAP had lost its direction by sacrificing its Rocket symbol in the 14th General Election (GE14).
Lee, who is also the former Kota Darul Aman assemblyman, said DAP move to come up with the one vote for PKR is equal to one vote for DAP campaign proved that the party was worried about losing support from the Chinese community.
“DAP today is not the same as before, they are trapped by their own conflicting agendas.
“In order to woo more Malay votes, they are willing to contest under the PKR logo, but now they are afraid of losing the Chinese votes,” he said when contacted.
Lee added that after accusing MCA of being under Umno’s thumb for contesting under the Barisan Nasional (BN) symbol all these years, DAP was getting a taste of its own medicine after having to use PKR logo to contest in the GE14.
“The party that claimed to be championing the Chinese community and proud of their Rocket logo, now has to convince its confused supporters that it is the same party despite contesting under the different logo.
“DAP had bragged to voters before this that they are different from MCA because they are contesting under the Rocket logo, unlike MCA who has to contest under the BN symbol. However, now it is the one who is contesting without its own logo, soI think the Chinese sees DAP the same as MCA,” he said.
Lee also blamed the DAP leadership for forgoing its principles by working with former enemy Dr Mahathir, who is contesting under the PKR symbol for Langkawi parliamentary seat.
“The young DAP members might not understood the pain that the senior members had endured - the condemnation and criticism thrown by the former premier at the party during his 22 years in power.
“I think veteran members who have been together with the party through ups and down still cannot accept the cooperation and this may result the party losing more votes,” he said.