TUNKU Aziz Ibrahim raised eyebrows when he joined the DAP in 2008. It was a big coup because the Kedah-born Tunku Aziz comes with super credible credentials.
He was hailed as the Malay face of DAP in the new politics that had washed ashore after the 2008 general election.
Now a senator, he still gets puzzled looks from the Malays about being in the DAP.
“Friends ask whether I have a real role in the DAP or if I am just a token Malay face. They can't believe I have a real role. But it's a somewhat circumscribed role,” he said.
Tunku Aziz speaks English like an English gentleman so that would be best interpreted as a minor and peripheral role in the party.
DAP had never felt the need to be apologetic about its image as a strident champion of Chinese issues until now, that is.
It is part of the government in several states, it holds the Chief Ministership in Penang and it is struggling to dilute its Chinese chauvinist image.
The Ilham Centre survey of three Barisan Nasional stronghold constituencies in Penang confirmed what many people have talked about that many Penang Malays see the DAP as a Chinese party that is unsympathetic to their interests and up to 80% of them feel marginalised under the Pakatan Rakyat government.
Being an opposition party championing Chinese issues is one thing, but a party in power has to be accepted by all races.
Some have tried to explain that DAP is a victim of Umno's propaganda and that Utusan Malaysia has done a grand job of racialising the DAP's image.
But, as one Umno official argued, the DAP's Chinese image is not the result of Umno.
It has been there from the start and has worsened over the years.
Umno propaganda is simply riding on the existing sentiment.
Issues like corruption and other scandals kept the DAP going from one general election to another but there have been two political staples over the years Chinese education and the NEP.
These issues have struck at the core of Malay nationalist interests.
Add to this the decades of criticising the civil service and the police for corruption and blaming Umno for everything that has gone wrong in the country and it becomes “DAP against the Malays”.
All these attacks have inevitably hurt the Malays who are the beneficiaries of the NEP and form the mainstay of the civil service and police.
The Teoh Beng Hock debacle is a classic and recent example.
There was widespread sympathy from all races when Teoh died in such tragic circumstances.
Everybody wanted justice for him, they felt for his family, especially for his mother whose tears were pure and sincere. But when the DAP leaders continued to reject the findings of the Commission of Inquiry report, there was a turning point in opinion among the Malays.
They were asking: “What more do the Chinese want? Will the Chinese be satisfied only if Teoh Beng Hock comes back to life?”
It was a telling sign that things had gone too far.
At some point, the issue had become less about Teoh than it was about the DAP, less about justice than about scoring political points.
The relentless attacks against the MACC also came across as an attack against the Malays because the MACC, like the civil service, is predominantly Malay.
Yet, few DAP politicians could see the issue had acquired a racial tone and some of them are still going on about it, dragging out Teoh's sister every now and then to make demands, to sob and to accuse.
The furore the DAP whipped up over the police shooting of Shah Alam teenager Aminulrasyid Amzah was another instance of how a fine line was crossed in the quest for justice for the boy and his family.
The DAP politicians went to town with the issue at their political ceramah and the way they condemned and ridiculed the police must have made Malays in the audience feel stupid and inferior.
Almost every Malay family has a relative or friend who is a civil servant, policeman or in the military. But DAP politicians cannot seem to make that distinction. They know the Chinese like the fighting cock style, so they go for the jugular.
But when it begins to cost votes in other sectors, it is time for a rethink.
DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua's remark about scaling down the civil service was actually one of those off-the-cuff remarks made during a forum yet it caused a huge stir.
Most people agree the civil service is big and could be smaller and more efficient but when it came from Pua, the Malays' reaction was, “There you are, they are out for us”.
The problem was not so much what Pua said, but the prevailing perception that DAP is anti-Malay and that if they come to power, they would curtail Malay rights and interests. Pua was a casualty of decades of DAP's Malay-bashing.
The DAP likes to think that Malay sentiment about the party is entirely due to Umno's propaganda.
They are partially right about that. Just as the DAP has painted the whole of Umno as being full of Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa types, Umno has a habit of painting DAP as an ultra Chinese party.
“The party is very conscious of the fact that it has to change the way the Malays perceive it. It's an uphill battle,” said Tunku Aziz.
The moderate in Tunku Aziz is quite uncomfortable with the way the party blames the Barisan for everything.
“The Barisan could have done a better job but to condemn them for every single thing that goes wrong, that is not the way politics should be played,” he said.
The DAP's stunning sweep of the Chinese vote in the Sarawak election did not help their image.
It merely entrenched the Malay perception that this is a party for the Chinese. But there is no turning back. The party is preparing to ride on the Chinese vote in the upcoming election and the outcome will only perpetuate the very image that they are trying to change.
He was hailed as the Malay face of DAP in the new politics that had washed ashore after the 2008 general election.
Now a senator, he still gets puzzled looks from the Malays about being in the DAP.“Friends ask whether I have a real role in the DAP or if I am just a token Malay face. They can't believe I have a real role. But it's a somewhat circumscribed role,” he said.
Tunku Aziz speaks English like an English gentleman so that would be best interpreted as a minor and peripheral role in the party.
DAP had never felt the need to be apologetic about its image as a strident champion of Chinese issues until now, that is.
It is part of the government in several states, it holds the Chief Ministership in Penang and it is struggling to dilute its Chinese chauvinist image.
The Ilham Centre survey of three Barisan Nasional stronghold constituencies in Penang confirmed what many people have talked about that many Penang Malays see the DAP as a Chinese party that is unsympathetic to their interests and up to 80% of them feel marginalised under the Pakatan Rakyat government.
Being an opposition party championing Chinese issues is one thing, but a party in power has to be accepted by all races.
Some have tried to explain that DAP is a victim of Umno's propaganda and that Utusan Malaysia has done a grand job of racialising the DAP's image.
But, as one Umno official argued, the DAP's Chinese image is not the result of Umno.
It has been there from the start and has worsened over the years.
Umno propaganda is simply riding on the existing sentiment.
Issues like corruption and other scandals kept the DAP going from one general election to another but there have been two political staples over the years Chinese education and the NEP.
These issues have struck at the core of Malay nationalist interests.
Add to this the decades of criticising the civil service and the police for corruption and blaming Umno for everything that has gone wrong in the country and it becomes “DAP against the Malays”.
All these attacks have inevitably hurt the Malays who are the beneficiaries of the NEP and form the mainstay of the civil service and police.
The Teoh Beng Hock debacle is a classic and recent example.
There was widespread sympathy from all races when Teoh died in such tragic circumstances.
Everybody wanted justice for him, they felt for his family, especially for his mother whose tears were pure and sincere. But when the DAP leaders continued to reject the findings of the Commission of Inquiry report, there was a turning point in opinion among the Malays.
They were asking: “What more do the Chinese want? Will the Chinese be satisfied only if Teoh Beng Hock comes back to life?”
It was a telling sign that things had gone too far.
At some point, the issue had become less about Teoh than it was about the DAP, less about justice than about scoring political points.
The relentless attacks against the MACC also came across as an attack against the Malays because the MACC, like the civil service, is predominantly Malay.
Yet, few DAP politicians could see the issue had acquired a racial tone and some of them are still going on about it, dragging out Teoh's sister every now and then to make demands, to sob and to accuse.
The furore the DAP whipped up over the police shooting of Shah Alam teenager Aminulrasyid Amzah was another instance of how a fine line was crossed in the quest for justice for the boy and his family.
The DAP politicians went to town with the issue at their political ceramah and the way they condemned and ridiculed the police must have made Malays in the audience feel stupid and inferior.
Almost every Malay family has a relative or friend who is a civil servant, policeman or in the military. But DAP politicians cannot seem to make that distinction. They know the Chinese like the fighting cock style, so they go for the jugular.
But when it begins to cost votes in other sectors, it is time for a rethink.
DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua's remark about scaling down the civil service was actually one of those off-the-cuff remarks made during a forum yet it caused a huge stir.
Most people agree the civil service is big and could be smaller and more efficient but when it came from Pua, the Malays' reaction was, “There you are, they are out for us”.
The problem was not so much what Pua said, but the prevailing perception that DAP is anti-Malay and that if they come to power, they would curtail Malay rights and interests. Pua was a casualty of decades of DAP's Malay-bashing.
The DAP likes to think that Malay sentiment about the party is entirely due to Umno's propaganda.
They are partially right about that. Just as the DAP has painted the whole of Umno as being full of Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa types, Umno has a habit of painting DAP as an ultra Chinese party.
“The party is very conscious of the fact that it has to change the way the Malays perceive it. It's an uphill battle,” said Tunku Aziz.
The moderate in Tunku Aziz is quite uncomfortable with the way the party blames the Barisan for everything.
“The Barisan could have done a better job but to condemn them for every single thing that goes wrong, that is not the way politics should be played,” he said.
The DAP's stunning sweep of the Chinese vote in the Sarawak election did not help their image.
It merely entrenched the Malay perception that this is a party for the Chinese. But there is no turning back. The party is preparing to ride on the Chinese vote in the upcoming election and the outcome will only perpetuate the very image that they are trying to change.
Star
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