Although Ubah (Change) is main thrust of DAP's campaign message to the masses, status quo appears to be the keyword for party grassroots as far as electing their party leadership is concerned.

 

From the party election results, delegates had chosen a mix of veterans, a handful of new faces and the usual crop of dissidents to the party's top decision making body.

 

dap national congress 161212 lim guan eng karpal tan kok wai As expected, the top recipient of votes from the 1,846 delegates was the father-son combo of Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng.  

Essentially, the results reaffirmed Kit Siang, Guan Eng and Karpal Singh as the party's top decision makers, going into the 13th general election.

 

Karpal, who came in third a close third, while his son Gobind Singh Deo came in eight, was happy with the combination put forth by the delegates.

 

dap congress 161212 ramasamy "Lim and I are the older ones and they have put a few (new faces) there, and I think it is a good blend for the party’s future," said Karpal.

His nemesis of sorts, P Ramasamy ( left ), did not make it as one of the 20 elected central executive committee members. Karpal said that this came as a surprise.

 

"I thought he would make it. Well, it’s the delegate’s decision and it is very difficult for me to say anything otherwise, and also Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw (did not make it)," he said.

 

Tan was the incumbent deputy chairperson of the party. Both he and Ramasamy have been co-opted into the CEC.

 

Not multi-racial enough

 

Immediately after the election results were announced, it was immediately clear that only a few Indians and no bumiputeras were elected into the CEC was a cause of concern for the party's image.  

NONE More notably, not a single Malay elected into the CEC, putting more pressure on the party which has been labled a Chinese chauvinist party by Umno to the Malay masses.

 

Although it is arguable that the party had yet to nurture credible and marketable bumiputera leaders at this point of time, former CEC member Jeff Ooi said delegates needed to look at the bigger picture.

 

"The party leader are open to multi-racial members and leadership. We must do it now, sooner than later," he said, adding that delegates need to show more maturity.

 

NONE "There is a big chasm between what the leadership aspire and what the delegates want. We have a prominent and notable Malay leaders such as Ariffin Omar ( above right ), we should nurture him."

 

Ariffin, Edwin Bosi (from Sabah) and John Brian Anthony [ left ] (Sarawak) - all bumiputeras - were eventually among the 10 appointed CEC members decided today.  

 

"I’m sure the new CEC when it deliberated, will make sure it will get in some more the others who have been left out. There is no problem there," said Karpal.

 

Teng on the rise

 

Meanwhile, delegates also unexpectedly gave Teng Chang Khim boost, given his track record of being the party "dissident".  

 

Does this show that delegates want a different view in the party leadership?

 

dap congress 161212 teng chang kim "I thought about this before, but 10th place is just at the middle of 20 spots. The ranking is not very high," said a modest Teng. "But my results improved, it inspires me."

 

Teng said he was not expecting any positions within the CEC, which has been the case in the past, and that he was satisfied with just making it to the committee  and securing more votes.

 

"The most important thing is there are many people had showed their concern for me and encouraged me, this is the most important thing.

 

"Even as a ordinary CEC member can do a lot of things, because I need to travel to the whole country. If I get a post, that’s a bonus," he added.

 

Eventually, Teng was appointed to a minor position as the head of the Pakatan Rakyat affairs bureau, despite coming in 10th.

 

Dissent good for party's future 

Unlike Teng, another prominent "dissident" Dr Boo Cheng Hau was given more prominence with his appointment as deputy political education bureau director.

 

pkr johor skudai dinner 150912 boo cheng hau Boo ( left ), who heads the party's Johor chapter, laughed when asked if delegates were trying channel some fresh air into the CEC.  

 

"I believe that if we come out with some different opinion, it not just for the future of the party, but most important is for the political scenario of the country, we can also come out with different opinion.

 

"If we change some policies, it will also affect other political parties and the political scenario of Malaysia," he added.

 

Although Teng and Boo seem to be garnering more support among the delegates, the election result also showed that some of the "old guard" require some soul searching.

 

Among them is Tan, who was voted out of the CEC despite being very senior and the party deputy chairperson, and Perak DAP chief Ngeh Khoo Ham.

 

Ngeh dropped ten spots, coming in 20th. But he shrugged it off and thought it was still "very good" and thanked delegates for still wanting him to be in the CEC.

 

"Position is not important at all. I’m still the Perak chairperson and the main task is to take back Perak from BN," he said.

Additional reporting by Ahmad Fadli KC, Koh Jun Lin, Lee Long Hui and Low Chia Ming.