GEORGE TOWN: Is DAP and its secretary-general Anthony Loke going to back the party's Federal Territory chairman Tan Kok Wai's proposal to hold local government elections in the Federal Territory?
This is the question posed by former veteran DAP leader Dr P Ramasamy.
Ramasamy, who is newly-formed Urimai Interim Council chairman, also asked if Tan was alone in the proposal for local government elections.
"Tan's proposal is harmless and timely but he is pretty naive to not expect brickbats from the Malay nationalists in Umno and the opposition parties.
"Umno might have joined forces with the DAP in the Madani government, but the former is still very suspicious of the DAP. In fact, it is argued that Umno's loss of Malay support has been attributed to its political link with the DAP," said Ramasamy.
He added that the issue of local government elections had been an important Pakatan Harapan's consideration in the 14th general election (GE14). However, political expediency on the part of PH prevented the focus on the local government elections.
"Tan, who was the former acting chairman of DAP, is right to bring up the matter. I personally think that local government elections can be gradually introduced in the country. But I doubt that Tan has the support of his colleagues in the DAP, especially those in the top," Ramasamy said today.
Elaborating further, Ramasamy said he was unsure as to why the otherwise non-controversial Tan would have brought up the matter of the local government elections for Kuala Lumpur.
He said he was also unsure whether Tan was frustrated with the present leadership for moving away from the 'struggles of DAP'.
While Tan has been criticised for bringing up the idea of local government elections for fear of the Malays might be outnumbered by the non-Malays, no senior DAP leader has come to support the brave and timely initiative of Tan, said Ramasamy.
"It doesn't matter what the nationalists in Umno and other Malay political parties think about local government elections, but what is the principled stand of the DAP leadership? Umno nationalists are already protesting against the proposal of Tan. Is the DAP leadership willing to provide the political backing for Tan?
"What is the stand of Loke? Is he not going to back Tan? Or the leaders going to engage in appeasement politics to calm the ultra Malay nationalists in Umno?
"Is Tan going to be the sacrificial lamb of the appeasement politics of the DAP? Is the DAP leadership about to invoke its infamous line 'the party has its own way of dealing with dissent'?," he added.
Ramasamy said there was no need to view the matter as a 'zero-sum game'. Local government elections can benefit the people in Kuala Lumpur, rendering elected officials to be democratic and accountable to the public. Ramasamy said it is beyond doubt that public service can be enhanced through the mechanism of local government elections.
Ramasamy said while Umno and the opposition are against the proposal of Tan, no one from the DAP or PKR have come out to support his idea.
"It is not that local government elections are something new in the country. It was scrapped in the 1960s. Surely, as suggested by Tan, at least we can think about the idea.
"My advice to Tan: be careful when Umno sneezes, DAP might catch cold!" he said.
Earlier today, Umno supreme council member Datuk Hasmuni Hassan said the government needed to carefully consider DAP's proposal to reintroduce local government elections to avoid any party gaining undue advantage easily.
He said the local government elections are seen as a complex system that has both positive and negative impacts if implemented.
