SHAH ALAM - DAP proved that it is still a relevant party in the country’s political scene by contributing 10 out of 12 state seats won by Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the 15th state election in Johor.
Apart from successfully exceeding Amanah and PKR's performance in the election, among the other achievements by DAP in the Johor state election, this time was through Marina Ibrahim who obtained 26,359 votes or 58.53 per cent making her the individual with the highest overall votes.
The party that is known to have strong support from Chinese voters managed to prove themselves well as having an advantage compared to its coalition parties namely Amanah and PKR for the 15th Johor state election.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) principal fellow, Profesor Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong said the stability in the party allows DAP to show good results and their performance was not disappointing.
"Based on the results of the 15th Johor state election yesterday (March 12), DAP can be seen as a party that has more potential and stands out compared to the other two parties in PH.
"DAP is also seen as more stable as there are no chronic internal party problems compared to PKR, while Amanah, although there is no internal crisis it is still not able to highlight their real potential and seems only to operate behind the scenes," Kok Seong told Sinar Premium.
Despite the party's stability factor that boosted the confidence of voters to support DAP, contesting in Chinese-majority constituencies is definitely an undeniable advantage.
"Of course, the biggest support for DAP comes from the Chinese and contesting in Chinese-majority areas is a guarantee of victory," he added.
Does this mean that DAP should not try to win the hearts of non-Chinese voters?
Kok Seong said, DAP is working towards this direction by contesting using the PH logo instead of the DAP logo.
"Besides that, DAP is also ready to attract more non-Chinese candidates when contesting to show that DAP is not just a Chinese party.
He added that DAP also has an advantage that other parties do not have, which is that the party is seen as more courageous in trying to address issues without trying to sugarcoat it.
DAP is also seen as a component party that is always ready to strengthen the cooperation in PH.
However, for the future survival of DAP and the entire opposition camp, efforts to strengthen the party must be resumed, especially to resolve any internal party problems immediately.
Touching on the results of the Johor state election yesterday, as predicted by analysts, the low turnout will be in favour of BN.
It was proven when BN managed to win 40 of the 56 seats contested.
PH was in second place with 12 seats followed by PN with three seats,Muda one seat while Pejuang, Warisan, Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and independent candidates failed to win any chair.
However, based on the current uncertain political situation in the country, DAP still thinks that they have achieved the target in Johor was achieved considering it is the birthplace of the UMNO party.