In Loke's defeat, lessons for DAP

The humiliating defeat of DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke in the Negeri Sembilan state election should not simply be seen as an electoral setback. It should be remembered as the moment that finally exposed one of the party's oldest and least democratic habits: the insistence by its power brokers on contesting both Parliament and state assembly seats.

For decades, DAP has justified this practice with the convenient excuse of "leadership continuity" or "strategic necessity". In reality, it has become little more than a mechanism for concentrating power in the hands of a small political elite.

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