One does not need to personally know DAP national chairperson and parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang to appreciate the fact that he has a sharp and quick mind to define an issue and raise it for public attention or parliamentary debate.

Many people, especially journalists and editors in Malaysia, know that for a fact from the daily output of his press statements.

Of course, many like it because it helps the media to balance the overwhelmingly one-sided coverage of political news and dull ministerial pronouncements. However, like it or not, there are also those who feel burdened, bored or irritated by the daily stream, or even torrent, of his rather standardised format of political arguments.

The negative reaction becomes even worse in the pressrooms of some Chinese-language (and possibly Malay and Tamil) newspapers when some of his statements arrive at three or four in the afternoon, and editors have to make quick decisions whether the release is worth publishing and whether there is enough time to translate and edit it.

Often, the larger and more psychological burdensome decision to be made is that, if he issues three or four press statements a day, which should be selected for translation and editing. There is also the limited resources or opportunity cost to consider.

Moreover, there is also a balancing act for editors to perform: on one particular issue, there are opinions not only from government leaders, but also those from other opposition parties as well as DAP itself.

Secret question

Stating these is, of course, not to justify the deliberate policies and consistent acts of some segments of the mainstream media to black him or other opposition leaders out or downplay the significance of some relevant points of an issue. It only suggests that, even if there are fair-minded newspapers, editors and journalists, there are still operational, technical and psychological problems of managing Lim's daily press releases.

In fact, many Chinese-language journalists and editors, old and young, still do not understand why they still receive Lim's press statements on the second and third day of the Chinese New Year as if he did not need to spend the festive days with his family and friends without thinking about politics and desiring to be heard so urgently in the public domain when most of the people were enjoying the festivities.

Surely, the secret question in their minds for years have further been intensified. During his self-proclaimed "private trip" to China recently, Lim continued to release statements from Nanjing, Jiangsu and Hangzhou on a range of issues in Malaysia, such as the acquittal of Keadilan youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor by the Sham Alam High Court from Official Secret Act (OSA) charges and the many scandals of the National Service (NS).

Although the statements were operationally released by the DAP headquarters in Petaling Jaya, there were clearly written by Lim himself while touring those beautiful and historic places in China.

Still too much time left after sight-seeing, shopping and reflecting on the thousand-year long histories of the rivers, hills, gardens, museums, battlefields, temples, mosques, royal court-yards, war memorials and monuments and libraries in those places? Or, these places and the histories and stories behind them still could not stir up Lim's passions enough to make him forget about his routine job of issuing press statements?

This is not to say that the issues and contents of his press statements are necessarily not important or excellent, but surely, there are other DAP leaders in Malaysia who should manage that in his absence? Also, it seems that there is still this organisation called the Democratic Action Party (DAP) with a team of other national leaders, members of parliament and state assembly representatives, and a secretariat with translators.

Disturbing possibilities

So, why did Lim not make preparations and coordinations before his departure to China, and delegate power and authority to others in the party so that he could just enjoy his "private trip" quietly as a private individual? The possible answers to this seemingly simple question is politically disturbing:

One, there is no other leader in DAP capable of defining and debating issues with equal capability and/or;

Two, at 62, Lim still does not want others to supercede or replace him and/or;

Three, Lim's passion for politics is still so uncontrollably strong that he is not, and cannot, be subject to organisational requirements, division of labour and specialisation, discipline, norms and etiquettes, and/or

Four, after some 30 years in active politics, Lim is now so engrossed in the field and its intrigues that the differences in time, space and occasions can no longer remind him of his different roles as a political leader and private individual, and/or

Five, like former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad or many owners-cum-operators of Chinese sundry shops in the 1960s and 1970s, Lim is a control-freak and workaholic, whose traits are usually detrimental to organisational transformation and structural reforms of political parties, business enterprises and public services from " Third World" to " First World".

True, there may be other positive answers to the question which this writer is still not intelligent enough to think of but the point is that, at this crucial moment of political transformation and change in Malaysia, there is a pressing need indeed to re-examine, from both positive and negative perspectives and hypotheses, the modus operandi of the Parliamentary Opposition Leader and his party which forms the largest bloc of votes on the opposition side in the highest legislative chamber of the nation.

With a 39-year history and relatively impressive performance in the last elections, DAP should be solid and brave enough to face public scrutiny, examination and criticisms that are based on the concern for the long-term health of parliamentary democracy in Malaysia.