The Malaysian Insight

PARLIAMENT will be dissolved and the 15th general election (GE15) called very soon, said DAP chairman Tan Kok Wai.

He told The Malaysian Insight that all the signs are there, especially Umno’s move to pile pressure on Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to do just that.

The party’s “court cluster” – which includes president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former president Najib Razak, both of whom are facing graft trials – is eager for a GE this year.

Tan said Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan’s speech at the opening of the Umno Youth and Wanita assemblies was very clear about this.

Mohamad on Wednesday said GE15 should be held soon to allow Umno to strike its enemies “while the iron is hot”.

“GE15 will come sooner than anyone expects,” said Tan, who will seek a re-election in the DAP national congress and polls tomorrow.

Under Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ismail Sabri, GE15 should not be held before July 2022. GE15 must be held by July 2023.

The MOU was signed in September, shortly after Ismail Sabri succeeded Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister to provide him with political stability given his small margin in Parliament and in exchange for various reforms. The country was then grappling with the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant.

“If Umno returns to power, it will be very bad for the people. We were a land of abundance and ranked second in Asean as an economic powerhouse, but that was all lost under Barisan Nasional (BN).”

“Malaysia is rich in resources but held back by systemic corruption. The next GE is our chance to ensure BN and Umno will not return again. I hope the people understand this.”

But Tan admitted that DAP finds it difficult to win the support of Malay voters, saying that the party still relies on Chinese voters.

“With Chinese voters’ support, we reached our highest political achievement in 2018,” he said, referring to GE14 when BN fell from federal power for the first time in history.

But at the time, PH had the help of Dr Mahathir Mohamad had his then party Bersatu, which joined PH and aided in securing Malay votes.

Tan said DAP has been vilified by Umno and PAS for 60 years, so much so that winning Malay votes remains an uphill battle till today.

He also said PH made mistakes during its 22-month stint in government, causing some Chinese voters to abandon it in recent state elections.

“Unfortunately, we only had 22 months. We wanted to fulfil our manifesto, but did not have enough time.

“PH has integrity, unlike BN or Ismail Sabri, who gave himself a glowing review for his 100 days in office.”

Tan said he is proud of PH for tackling corruption and promoting press freedom.

He pointed to Malaysia’s positions on the Corruption Perceptions Index in recent years. The country ranked 62 in 2017, and went up a rank to 61 in 2018 when PH was in power.

It further improved in 2019, when it ranked 51. However, after the Perikatan Nasional-Umno government took over, Malaysia slipped back to 62 in 2021.

Reporters Without Borders placed Malaysia at 145th spot in 2017, 122nd in 2018, 101st in 2019 and 119th in 2020.

Tan said: “This proves that PH is a good government and promotes civil rights, press freedom and integrity. This is an undeniable fact.” – March 19, 2022.