http://dapmalaysia.org  

DAP to gear up for the 2003 general election

Speech
 - DAP Federal Territory State Convention
by Kerk Kim Hock

(Kuala Lumpur, Sunday): Following the results of the recent Pendang and Anak Bukit by elections where Umno had not performed as expected, new predictions now point towards the next general election being held in 2003.

I believe that the timing of the next general election will be influenced by three factors, viz, the constituency delineation exercise, the 2004 Budget and the Prime Minister's retirement date.

I predict that the Prime Minister will dissolve the Parliament

  1. after the proposed constituency changes have been approved as it has been observed that the changes will be favorable to the Barisan Nasional, and
  2. after he has presented his last Budget which will be a pro people Budget as this will be his way of showing his gratitude to the people for having made him the longest serving Prime Minister

Additionally, he will choose a date as close as possible to his retirement date.

If such predictions are true, this will mean that we will have less than 12 months to prepare for the next general elections.

DAP has suffered electoral debacle consecutively in the 1995 and 1999 general elections. Another successive loss will not only result in great loss of confidence within and outside the Party, it will also have great political implications to the Party and the nation.

Indeed, the next general election will be one important election whereby Malaysians will have to speak loud and clear their determination to want to defend and preserve the constitutional secular basis of our nation.

The DAP must therefore play the role of leading and mobilising Malaysian voters to, through their votes, stand up and be counted in the battle to ensure that Malaysia shall forever remain a secular democratic nation.

Alone we may be in our struggle towards a secular democratic Malaysia, but we will not and must not be discouraged or deterred in any way.
 


DAP must learn from the past general elections

DAP must therefore start to prepare early for the next general election. In our preparations, it is insufficient for us to say that we are already well prepared, we must, instead ask ourselves how much have we learned from the past lessons.

As the saying goes, experience does not serve much or any purpose if we have not learned anything from it.

While we must always be optimistic and positive, we must also realise that the next general election will be another tough election for the DAP because:

  1. that the Islamic State issue which was fully exploited by the Barisan Nasional against us will again become the dominant issue
  2. that the threats of international terrorism, local militancy and religious extremism will be manipulated by the Barisan Nasional
  3. that it is likely there will be facing overlapping contests among the Opposition
  4. that the tight media control on selective issues unfavorable to the Barisan Nasional will continue right up to and during the general election campaign period

In the face of such challenges, the Party national leadership must therefore chart out effective strategies and programmes while the state leaderships and the elected representatives must play their part to ensure the successful implementation of the Party's strategies, tactics and programme.

I also wish to state here the question of DAP returning to the Barisan Altrenative does not arise anymore. Opposition supporters should accept such a reality and all opposition parties should also move on to improve their strength.
 


DAP elected representatives to submit self appraisal reports

I hereby wish to announce that I have discussed with Party deputy Secretary General and Chairman of the MPs/SAs Supervisory Committee, Sdr M Kulasegaran and it has been decided that all party elected representatives are required to submit a self evaluation performance report to him by end of this month.

We want all Party representatives to make an appraisal of their performance and answer, in particular, the following questions:

  1. their performance and contributions of the three areas required of them, viz. party work, legislative role and constituency service
  2. whether they are able to return the constituencies to the Party in a stronger state than the 1999 general election
  3. whether their renomination as candidates will bring about electoral victory as well as further party growth, development and unity

Party MPs and SAs should realise that all seats belong to the Party and anyone entrusted to contest a seat should endeavor to return the seat to the Party in a stronger state than before.

In selecting candidates, party seniority and personal fame shall not be the only criteria. Neither should anyone think that he could bargain for a seat by playing factionlaism politics.

The DAP will also consider the important factor of " what will happen after a particular individual has won a seat. ie, whether there will be greater party growth and unity.

A Conference of Party MPs and SAs will be held later to discuss the reports submitted by the party elected representatives.

(10/11/2002)

* Kerk Kim Hock, DAP Secretary General