Membership has grown at a phenomenal pace since Election 2008, with hundreds of new branches set up in the last two years, and the DAP’s veteran leaders are expected to face lively competition from newer and younger leaders.
In recent months, the various factions in the party have been busy aligning themselves in preparation for the elections, with various lists of endorsed candidates drawn up to do battle in state elections.
Previous DAP elections were tame affairs but interest in the party has now spiked.
Scores of new branches have been formed in all the major west coast states where the DAP has taken the place of the defeated Gerakan and the weakened MCA.
In Selangor 200 new branches were formed — up from a paltry 40 before Election 2008.
In Perak, over 90 new branches have been set up by different factions and have contributed to a major tiff between the Ngeh-Ngah faction (state party chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and secretary Nga Kor Ming) and that of deputy chairman M. Kulasegaran and Thomas Su, the Pasir Pinji assemblyman and Perak DAP organising secretary.
Party insiders said that about 30 new branches purportedly aligned to the Ngeh-Ngah faction suddenly appeared on the table as approved branches by the state committee, sparking unhappiness in the Kula-Su camp that their faction was being undermined.
Insiders said a dozen branches were formed in the Ipoh Barat parliamentary constituency now held by Kulasegaran, and without his knowledge, indicating a scheme might have been hatched to grab the seat in the next general election.
Both party advisor Lim Kit Siang and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng were down in Ipoh in recent weeks to hold “table talks” to patch up the differences but no lasting solution seems in sight.
In Penang, the issue is “insiders” versus “outsiders” where party veterans are questioning the newcomers who are holding posts in the Pakatan Rakyat state government and will naturally be vying for key posts in the state committee election.
The ambitions of people like Deputy Chief Minister P. Ramasamy and Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi is causing friction among the veterans as the state election approaches.
Down in Johor, outspoken chairman Dr Boo Cheng Hau is facing the same factional problems just like in Pahang, where newcomers and veterans are jockeying for positions as new branches are formed and old alliances are reformed.
The most serious contests are in Selangor, with at least four factions vying for control of the state DAP, and with powerbroker Ronnie Liu fighting for his political life as his opponents dredge up his alleged “dark” side.
While condemning Liu, his opponents also praise Speaker and state committee member Teng Chang Khim, seeing in him a possible Selangor state chairman. The post is now held by Ean Yong Hian Wah, whose performance has been unimpressive, DAP insiders claim.
Incumbent deputy chairman Tony Pua, according to insiders, could be the candidate endorsed by Kit Siang and Guan Eng with other faction leaders falling in line to stop Teng from gaining ground.
Independent observers, however, say it is inevitable that the DAP would grow and expand with success at the ballot box and that the expansion is not necessarily negative.
“The party is simply expanding and new people are entering the DAP and the veterans are a bit shaken,” said one political analyst.
“The national leadership is intact, there is no person as yet challenging the key players like Kit Siang and Guan Eng, or Karpal Singh,” he said.
“Even Teng is a state leader... he has not gone national like the others,” the analyst said. “The contest is lively but not divisive as long as the national leadership remains intact.”
The DAP has introduced a new Constituency Liaison Committee — the equivalent of a division in Umno’s hierarchy —and elections for these bodies are currently ongoing.
Each branch will send seven delegates to the state election, and in most states, the total figure could potentially reach 1,000 voters, a new phenomenon for the DAP.
In each state, the delegates elect 15 leaders and the 15 would then hold another election by secret ballot within hours of the main election to decide who gets to hold key posts like the chairman, deputy chairman, and secretary and committee members.
