The Democratic Action Party, or DAP (Malay: Parti Tindakan Demokratik, Chinese: 民主行动党, Tamil: ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a secular, Chinese majority, social democratic Malaysian political party.[2]
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) is one of the three main opposition parties in Malaysia, along with the PKR and PAS, that are seen as electable alternatives to the Barisan Nasional coalition of parties.
The party's vision is to establish a peaceful and prosperous social democracy that can unite its disparate races and diverse religions and cultures based on a Malaysian Malaysia concept of forging a Malaysian race grounded on universal moral values, offering equal access and opportunity, upholding democratic governance and the rule of law, creating wealth and distributing it equitably, and fighting corruption.[3]
Though most of the seats it contests consists of majority Chinese Malaysians, the DAP receives support from the Malaysian Indians and a significantly large number of liberal Malays. The party's strongholds are the states of Penang, Perak, Selangor, Johor, Negeri Sembilan and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. In the 2013 Malaysian General election, DAP swept nearly all the federal seats it contested throughout Malaysia, the seat they lost being the seats of Labis, Tanjong Piai, Sepanggar, Putatan, Alor Gajah, Mas Gading, Serian, Mukah, Kapit, Bintulu, Lawas, and Cameron Highlands.
Following the recent 2013 general election, and with 38 members of Parliament (MPs), the Democratic Action Party became the second largest political party in Malaysia,[4] a term that was usually used to describe its main political rival, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA).
History
Formation
Most of the Malaysian People's Action Party members decided to remain with the original party in Singapore, but those that decided to continue the party, including future President of Singapore Devan Nair, stayed in Malaysia to form the DAP on 11 October 1965.[5] The party formally registered itself as a democratic socialist party on 18 March 1966.[6] In the August of that year, the official party organ, The Rocket, was first published. At the first DAP National Congress held in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur on 29 July 1967, the DAP declared itself to be "irrevocably committed to the ideal of a free, democratic and socialist Malaysia, based on the principles of racial and religious equality, social and economic justice, and founded on the institution of parliamentary democracy".[7]
In October that year, the DAP joined 55 other socialist parties belonging to the Socialist International (SI) at the SI International Conference in Zurich, Switzerland.[7]
Devan Nair who was amongst those who founded the DAP (others included Chen Man Hin who won the Seremban constituency as an independent), later returned to Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew, then Prime Minister of Singapore under the PAP, explained in 1981 that "the Cabinet decided that Singapore-Malaysia relations would always be bedevilled if Devan Nair remained a DAP leader. I persuaded him to come back".[5]
Early electoral successes
The DAP contested a general election for the first time in 1969. In line with their commitment to equality, the DAP originally campaigned against Bumiputra privileges, such as those afforded to them by Article 153 of the Constitution. They also continued Lee Kuan Yew's campaign for a Malaysian Malaysia, the idea of which was originally conveyed by Lee in Parliament: "Malaysia – to whom does it belong? To Malaysians. But who are Malaysians? I hope I am, Mr Speaker, Sir. But sometimes, sitting in this chamber, I doubt whether I am allowed to be a Malaysian."[8]
The DAP went on to win 13 Parliamentary seats and 31 State Assembly seats, with 11.9% of all valid votes that were cast in the election; the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) which campaigned on a similar platform also made major gains. The 1969 election marked the biggest gains ever made by an opposition party in Malaysia (before 2008), and came close to seeing the ruling Alliance toppled from power. However, a march made by the DAP along with Gerakan as part of the opposition team led to violence, and resulted in what was euphemistically termed the 13 May Incident. Parliament was suspended for two years, and the executive branch of the government assumed power.[9]
When Parliament reconvened, it passed pieces of legislation such as the Sedition Act that illegalised discussion of repealing certain portions of the Constitution. Most of these concerned Bumiputra privileges, such as Article 153. The DAP and the People's Progressive Party (PPP) were the only parties that voted against the Act, which passed by a vote of 125 to 17.[10]
After the 1969 election, the DAP would never come close to repeating its past successes for the next 38 years. Although the DAP remained a major opposition party, the ruling coalition had clung solidly to its two-thirds parliamentary majority. The DAP, however, continued campaigning on its platform of abolishing the Bumiputra privileges, giving equal rights for all Malaysians regardless of race and establishing a democratic socialist state in Malaysia.
During the Mahathir administration in 1987, several DAP leaders, including Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, were detained by the government without trial during Operation Lalang, under the accusation of being a national security threat. It is widely believed they were arrested for protesting the expansion of the New Economic Policy (NEP).[11]
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