(Kuching, 4th) SUPP Kuching Branch Youth Chief Wong Tuk Yong pointed out that during the 17th Sabah state election, Pakatan Harapan contested 20 seats but lost all except one. Sabah DAP had been extremely confident before the polls, and there was no intense reaction from voters prior to voting. However, during voting, voters quietly collectively shifted, resulting in a shocking defeat with DAP losing all 8 seats.
He said that this political tsunami of Chinese localism in Sabah and the local message sent may well be a precursor to a massive political shift among Chinese voters in the national parliamentary elections two years later.
Wong Tuk Yong stated that after DAP’s disastrous defeat in the Sabah election, DAP Secretary-General Loke Siew Fook chaired an emergency Central Executive Committee meeting on the night of the 2nd for four hours. Afterwards, he issued a media statement saying that the DAP CEC expressed that this election reflected a serious crisis of confidence facing both DAP and Pakatan Harapan, and that he would work with the Prime Minister to accelerate the reform agenda over the next six months.
Pakatan Harapan came to power in 2022 on anti-corruption and reform pledges, but now claims it wants to accelerate the reform agenda, proving that its reform agenda over the past three years in power has not met its targets!
Wong Tuk Yong quoted the analysis by former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on a podcast, where Khairy said Sabah DAP once had 80% of the so-called “iron vote”, yet support dropped to less than 30% in the 17th state election. In 2020, DAP’s support rate in Sabah’s six traditional strongholds was 78%, but in this election it fell to just 27%—a difference of 51%. The main reason, he said, is that during DAP’s three years in West Malaysia’s ruling coalition, its image shifted from fighters resisting powerful interests to a compromised political party. After entering Putrajaya, it became silent and arrogant. Sabah voters who supported DAP felt the party had changed. Khairy believes that if DAP cannot rediscover its original intentions, it may even lose its West Malaysian strongholds in the next parliamentary election!
Wong Tuk Yong finally pointed out that a few days before the vote, Sabah DAP realized the dire situation and called on voters to “protect the flame (of the party),” but rejection of West Malaysian parties’ influence ultimately led to DAP’s crushing defeat. As the saying goes, “a single fallen leaf heralds autumn”; the vast majority of Chinese voters have seen through the false facade of some DAP politicians, who change their mindset after attaining office and choose power over political ideals, making them completely untrustworthy.
As for Sarawak DAP, they have remained silent so far—what are they really plotting?