How long will Malaysia’s Penang remain loyal to DAP, after years of voting ‘anything but Umno’?

Ahead of state polls, supporters of the Chinese-led DAP are still finding it hard to accept it is now a partner of former rival Umno, party insiders say

With Penang regarded as a regional semiconductor hub, some critics also say DAP’s ‘likeable’ but passive state chief minister may not be the best person for the job

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Anthony Loke, secretary general of the DAP. Photo EPA-EFE

Published: 9:30am, 23 Jul 2023

Malaysia’s Democratic Action Party (DAP) may be facing its toughest battle yet to retain Penang in state polls scheduled for next month, as it grapples with discontent among supporters over its partnership with former rival Umno and a leadership that critics say has been too passive on the economic front.

Six states in Malaysia’s peninsula – Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan – will go to polls on August 12 in what is seen as the first real test for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s rag-tag unity government after eight months in power.

The opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) is defending the northern states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, while Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) governs the western Selangor and Penang, two of the country’s richest and most industrialised states, and Negeri Sembilan.

Party insiders have said supporters and grass-roots members of the Chinese-led DAP – a key ally in Anwar’s unity government – still find it hard to accept that they now have to be on friendly terms with coalition ally Umno, the former ruling party which for decades had branded the DAP as enemies of the country’s majority Malay-Muslim community.

Anwar was tasked by the king to bring together partners and rivals alike under a unity government in a bid to cool temperatures in the aftermath of the November national polls.

Removing Umno from power was a key driver for PH supporters over their years in the opposition.

Umno was eventually defeated in the 2018 national polls. Its leader at the time, former prime minister Najib Razak, was jailed last August for corruption involving 42 million ringgit (US$9.2 million) linked to a former unit of scandal-tainted state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.