I wish to thank the DAP Selangor State Chairman Sdr Gobind Singh Deo and the state committee for inviting me to open the Selangor DAP Political Retreat in my first speech as National Chairman. DAP has a good start under the new Secretary-General Anthony Loke Siew Fook.
DAP and opposition MPs created history in Parliament by defeating for the first time ever on 23 March with a victorious 86-85 vote, a government motion to extend for 5 years the SOSMA provision to permit detention without trial for 28 days. Despite PH leaders signing the Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with the Prime Minister Ismail Sabri, this victory proves that PH has not abandoned our commitment and principles to uphold basic human rights and democracy.
PH has not breached the MOU by defeating the government when there was no consultation with PH on the motion. Law Minister Wan Junaidi agreed and said that there must be mutual consultation before the MOU is terminated. Wan Junaidi then confirmed that in accordance with the MOU, a special session of Parliament will be held on 11 April to amend the Federal Constitution to pass the Anti-Hopping Law. The Anti-Hopping Law is one of the principal reasons for signing the MOU.
However, UMNO is unhappy and pressing for an early dissolution of Parliament with their Ministers recently having a special breakfast meeting before the weekly Cabinet meeting. DAP must be prepared and gear up our machinery to prepare for the next general elections.
We must learn our lessons from the results of the general elections in Melaka, Sarawak and Johor. Do not blame the low voter turnout but ask why we fail to mobilise our supporters to come out and vote. Identify our weaknesses in communicating to the rakyat and the need to concentrate not just on one issue but address cost of living issues that matter to the rakyat. And most importantly our supporters do not want us to be in opposition but to aim to be in government to implement policies that can change their lives for the better.
These are the lessons we have learnt from Melaka and Sarawak that we have addressed and allowed us to perform above public expectations, and despite the lower turnout in Johor allowed DAP to win 10 out of the 14 seats contested in Johor, instead of the expected 5 seats. However, we have still not overcome the low voter turnout that would have allowed us to win more seats. Not only must we rebut the baseless racist and extremist allegations and the lies that we imposed new taxes whilst we were in power, we must articulate people-centric issues.
People-centric Issues And Ceramahs To Communicate With The People
The people-centric issues are inflation and rising prices that can be mitigated with a Price Stabilisation Fund and postponing the increase in electricity tariffs for commercial users by as much as 20%, opposing the withdrawal of tax exemption on foreign-sourced income for companies that imposed taxes on companies bringing back their earnings to Malaysia with a likelihood of a similar tax on individual income in future, opposing the increase in compound fines for breaching COVID-19 SOPs for individuals from RM1,000 to RM10,000 and for companies to RM1 million, and opposing the increase in bumi quota for large government procurement contracts or from 30% to 61%.
To do that we must not fear to admit our shortcomings but must also explain our successes whilst in power in both Selangor and Putrajaya. What we have achieved not only for all ethnic communities but also for Sabah and Sarawak. We are afraid to win if we fear to explain our shortcomings or what we have delivered. Only then can we inspire hope that PH is still the best vehicle to bring change to Malaysia that can benefit our children.
Let us not despair. We are on the right track. But we have to start now and work hard to gear up our machinery for the coming general elections with our coalition allies in Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia to win the next general elections. As a start, small-scale ceramahs followed by nation-wide tours of top leaders is necessary.
Sharing Our Victories With A Common Logo
We need to share our victories so that together each can win more seats. There is no point for DAP or PKR winning seats using our respective logos if we cannot win power together. For this reason, there must be a common logo acceptable by all and the Johor state elections have proven that the PH common logo has won more seats compared to other opposition parties.
Johor State UMNO Deputy Chairman Nur Jazlan announced that he would not recontest his Pulai parliamentary seat because based on the Johor state election results, he would lose. Nur Jazlan said that despite UMNO winning by a landslide of 40 out of 56 seats or 71%, UMNO is not the majority party in Johor as it won only 43% of the popular vote. The Johor state election results have shown that DAP will retain all our parliamentary seats except Labis.
Nationally, DAP will lose up to 5 seats out of our present 42 parliamentary seats. We still have time to retain all our 42 seats provided we work hard and find a formula that can pool our strength not to fight each other but together against BN. And with the right message, leadership and teamwork we can win again in our seats in Selangor and other state governments that we won in 2018.