THE march of DAP leaders into Dewan Merdeka – touted as UMNO’s sacred hall – over the weekend has been deemed by veteran journalist and blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin as a highly significant event.
While Muafakat Nasional president and former UMNO warlord Tan Sri Annuar Musa has poked fun at the event that DAP’s entry into Dewan Merdeka for the unity government’s national convention would be followed by an exodus among UMNO members, Kadir prefers to see DAP as the largest party in the unity government.
“Maybe there are UMNO leaders and members who are not aware of this symbolism,” penned the former UMNO member for over 30 years before deserting the party in 2015 during the reign of now incarcerated former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“DAP which was only five years ago mocked in the UMNO general assembly’s caricature exhibition marched into the UMNO fortress as a celebrated partner.”
Added Kadir: “No wonder DAP’s secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook remarked that initially he was ‘a little nervous’ to enter the Dewan Merdekal. But then he confidently spoke in front of an audience of many UMNO people.”
Elaborating further on DAP’s ‘great entry’, Kadir said by being willing to fight alomgside DAP, some UMNO leaders have managed to find a lifeline – perhaps temporarily – while those who are not in line find themselves eliminated.
“If DAP can march into the Dewan Merdeka and sit as low – stand as high as UMNO – what has happened to the “sacred party” as often chanted by UMNO people?” wondered the former Bersatu supreme council member who claimed to support Pakatan Harapan (PH) idealism in the 2018 and 2022 national polls.
“Reality check tells us that DAP has 40 seats in Parliament and UMNO 26 prior to (its recent) dismissals and suspensions.” – May 17, 2023
