FORMER Bangi MP and deputy trade and industry minister Ong Kian Ming is much more than an individual leaving DAP with his purported resignation letter addressed to the party’s secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook on the 69th Merdeka Day itself.
It is more about DAP’s state of affairs and whether it is going to remain relevant to Malaysians in the pursuit of equality, democracy and in instilling the values of good governance.
Although Ong did not offer reasons for his resignation, it was clear that the political direction of DAP was the main cause. This is why other prominent DAP leaders have resigned in the past.
Those independent-minded leaders who are still in DAP are there because of loyalty towards the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in general and trust in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Ong resigned because some of his suggestions were not accepted by the party leaders. In fact, his close association with Khairy Jamaluddin who is back in good terms with UMNO has been something that the DAP leadership is not comfortable with.
Moreover, Ong’s recent bold analysis of the weaknesses of DAP was not somehow accepted by the party.
‘Dissenting views unwelcome’
Ong was caught in a difficult situation in DAP. He realised that it served no purpose to prolong his stay in DAP under the circumstances of hostility towards him and his ideas.
As a public intellectual, he did the right thing by resigning from the party. Given his 14 years in DAP, the two-term lawmaker (Serdang and Bangi) knew that the party was heading in the wrong direction.
It was wiped out in Sabah and could not regain its former political strength in the recent Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections.
I think if Ong had been a respected political figure in DAP, he would not have left. The problem with DAP leadership is that the party is not prepared to accept and appreciate dissenting views in the larger interests of the party.
Henceforth, Ong given his independent views became a thorn on the side of DAP.
Despite the high drama of leaders calling for the party congress to decide the future of the party in the government, Ong predicted that the party would stay put in the government.
This was precisely what happened on Aug 16. In its immediate aftermath, some DAP leaders suggested reforms to be carried out by the government so as to give respectability to supporting the motion to stay put in the government.
Ong might have addressed the weaknesses of DAP from the perspective of the super-structural aspects.
While such a focus is important, it has to incorporate the material and structural dimensions in explaining why DAP has lacked the spine in charting a new political course.
Generational change, long years of being in the power structures of state and federal governments, municipal councils and government-linked companies have changed the outlook of DAP leaders in terms of effectively representing the non-Malays in the country.
The question is how can DAP leadership untangle itself from the material and ideological structures to take a new political form?
Like the MCA, MIC and Gerakan, DAP having divorced itself from the interests of the grassroots by succumbing to the Malay hegemonic order has poised itself on the verge of irrelevance.
By the way, who is the next former MP who is going to resign from DAP? – Sept 1, 2026
Former DAP stalwart and Penang deputy chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
