SHAH ALAM – Veteran leader Lim Guan Eng of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) lost his bid to retain the post of party chairman in the party’s triennial election held on March 16.
Instead, he was offered a national adviser role, in what is seen as diminishing the role of the Lim family in the largest party in Malaysia’s ruling coalition.
In the closely watched DAP internal election, Mr Lim had polled 1,719 votes and ranked 26th among 70 candidates vying for a seat in the 30-member Central Executive Committee (CEC).
The party congress was held in Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor state. Seventy-nine per cent of 4,203 delegates turn out for voting.
But during the subsequent office-bearers’ election by the newly elected CEC members, Mr Lim was nominated as party adviser. The party’s new chairman, for a three-year term, will be Mr Gobind Singh Deo.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke retained the secretary-general’s post as the leader of the Chinese-majority multiracial party.
The 3,342 delegates who voted for their new leaders had to decide, among other things, whether the 59-year-old party should remain vocal street fighters – as it had been as an opposition party – or allow its leaders to quietly work the Cabinet, now that the DAP is a member of the Pakatan Harapan governing coalition.
It has five full Cabinet ministers and six deputy ministers in the two-year-old government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The DAP has 40 MPs and 90 state assemblymen spread among 10 Malaysian states. Among Malaysia’s myriad political parties, only the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia has more MPs (43) and more state assemblymen (147).
The Lim family, led by Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang, a founding member, were dominant figures in the party’s long years in the opposition. Now aged 84, the elder Lim has retired from active politics.
The younger Lim, 64, was the DAP’s secretary-general between 2004 and 2022, and has been its national chairman since 2022.
Part of the souring of sentiment against Mr Lim Guan Eng was caused by an aggressive push for his candidates to oust those led by Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow in the 2023 state elections.
But in the Penang DAP internal election in September 2024, Mr Lim Guan Eng’s faction suffered a major setback, with only two of his preferred candidates being elected out of the total 15 seats.
Mr Chow resigned as the Penang DAP chief, but has retained his post as chief minister until 2028, when the next state election is due.
Meanwhile, Mr Lim Guan Eng’s sister, Ms Lim Hui Ying, lost her CEC position.
Lu Wei Hoong is Malaysia correspondent at The Straits Times. He loves to travel and discover hidden gems of stories.
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