Chairman Address by Chong Chieng Jen at the DAP Sarawak Ordinary Convention 2022 on 16th January 2022

2021 has been a difficult and challenging year for most of us. It is a year of prolonged MCOs. Many suffered from loss of jobs or reduced incomes and this is aggravated by increasing prices of essential goods.

For us DAP Sarawak, in 2021, we suffered a huge defeat in the Sarawak State Elections. Out of the 26 DUN constituencies that we contested, we only managed to win in 2, losing 5 of the State constituencies that we have won in 2016 Sarawak Elections.

Therefore, it is timely that we have this Ordinary Convention. It gives us the opportunity to reset and restart our party. It also gives our delegates an opportunity to decide the future direction of the Party.

Looking back at the last Elections, undeniably, the low voters’ turnout and voting splitting amongst the Opposition have directly resulted in the loss of our 5 incumbent constituencies:

The combined votes of PSB, PBK and ASPIRASI in all these 5 constituencies were a lot more than the majorities won by GPS over our DAP candidates in the respective constituencies:

These Opposition parties could be genuine Opposition parties. They could also be the strategy of the GPS to split our votes. Time will reveal the truth.

Regardless, moving forward, the main task of our new State Committee is to regain and win back the trust and confidence of the people on our party. To do so, 3 things that we must do, ie. continue to serve, more youth participation and step up our publicity.

Continue to Serve

First and foremost, we must continue our service to people. It is heartening to see that many of our grassroot leaders, though lost in the Elections, continue to provide our service to the people, continue to voice out for the people and continue to fight for the people’s rights.

We do not vanish after the Elections. Our leaders continue to be available and can be contacted by the people round the year. That is the hallmark of DAP and that is something that all of us members of DAP should be proud of.

More Youth Participation

Secondly, there must be more youth participation in the main decision-making body, i.e. the State Committee.

Unlike the other parties which have announced that they will set up a youth wing as a subsidiary body catering to those between 18 – 28 years of age, we shall invite more in this age group to be in the State Committee, empowering them to make decision state-wide.

In DAP, the youth will not be merely a subsidiary or secondary group, but will be in the highest decision-making body, that is the DAP Sarawak State Committee.

In fact, DAP Sarawak still holds the record of being the youngest in average age of the highest decision-making committees amongst all political parties in Sarawak.

Step Up Publicity

The leaders of DAP Sarawak must advance and adapt with times. While issuing press statements is still an important part of publicity, one cannot deny the increasing importance of Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Youtube in our publicity work.

In politics, it is not only the content of the communication which is important, but also equally important is whether such content can effectively reach the people.

Therefore, our publicity and method of communication must either adapt and evolved or we become obsolete and extinct. It is thus important that the leaders of DAP Sarawak must learn to operate all these different modes of mass communication to be relevant in politics today.

Is There Still HOPE for Malaysia?

In general, there is this sentiment of doom and gloom amongst some that there is no hope for this country. The people have voted for change in 2018 but the PH Government could only hold for 22 months while many of the promised reforms could not be materialised. Therefore, there is no hope for the country and thus no point to come out to vote.

However, I hold a different opinion.

In fact, no one would have expected UMNO and BN to be defeated in 2018, but we have done it together. If we could do it the first time, there is no reason why we cannot do it the second time.

Yes, the PH government had lasted only for 22 months. This is mainly because of the clash in personalities among a few of the PH leaders and driven by the long-entrenched racism and corruption within the system. But this 22-month government has led to the breakup of the UMNO hegemony. In times to come, should there be a new government after the 15th General Elections, I am confident that the new coalition government will be in a better position to serve its full 5-year term.

We may be disappointed, but we must not give up hope. In life, when we fell, we get up and try harder. The same goes in politics. No political struggle is easy and smooth-sailing, especially when the country has been damaged by the BN for more than half a century. We fell in 2020, but we must get up and try harder. It is only through our perseverance that we can create the HOPE for a better nation.

Constitutionally, the 15th General Elections must be held within the next 18 months. It is thus the urgent responsibility of the new State Committee to rebuild the people’s confidence and hope to usher into the next General Election.

HAS the PH Government Done Nothing in 22 Months?

Our Opponents are telling the people that the PH Government has done nothing in the 22 months of government.
That is not true.

We admit that there are short-comings in the PH Government and that we could not implement all the promised reforms during the 22 months of government. However, we did manage to carry out many reforms and changes that bring benefit to the people, to list just a few of the major reforms and changes made by the PH Government:

• Abolition of the GST.
• Keeping prices of goods stable and the inflation rate low.
• Refund of RM37 billion GST and income taxes wrongly withheld by the previous BN Government to the taxpayers.
• Separation of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister’s posts.
• Putting on trial the ex-PM, ex-DPM and other VVIPs for alleged corruption charges.
• Appointing the Opposition as the chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee to oversee the Executive.
• Review of the ECRL, MRT2, LRT3 and Pan Borneo Highway projects, saving the country at least RM46.5 billion of public fund.
• Return of billions from the 1MDB scandals from oversea accounts.
• Increase in allocation for vernacular and mission schools in the country.
• Implementation of open tender systems, thus allowing a fair opportunity to all contractors to participate in government jobs.

Despite all said against us, we can confidently say that the PH Government is by far a better government than the BN Government or the current PN Government.

New Political Landscape in Sarawak

As for Sarawak, after having won 92.6% of the DUN seats, GPS now dominates the political landscape of Sarawak.

Instead of power-sharing amongst the component parties, in the formation of his cabinet, Abang Jo now almost monopolises all the important portfolios in the State Government, including Finance, New Economy, Natural Resources, Urban Development, Energy and Environmental Sustainability.
Can one person efficiently and effectively carry out that many responsibilities? Why are there no other persons in GPS deemed capable by Abang Jo to be in charge of any of these portfolios? Are we returning to the Taib’s era of Sarawak?

As the maxim goes “absolute power corrupts absolutely”, such concentration of power in one person will not work for the best interest of Sarawak.
Though we DAP have been reduced to 2 ADUNs in DUN, we promise that the 2 of us, Violet and I, will work extra hard to be the eyes and the ears and the voices of the people in DUN.

To all our members, let us come together in this long-haul political struggle for a better Malaysia and a better Sarawak. For those who aspire to contest in the next State Elections, “Don’t wait, Start work now”. As a word of encouragement, in 2004, Abdullah Badawi won the biggest ever victory for BN winning 90% of the Parliamentary seats, but in 2008, he lost the BN’s 2/3rd majority in Parliament and 5 other states to the Opposition.

Lastly, I wish all delegates a fruitful Convention and my best wishes to the new State Committee to lead DAP Sarawak.