KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng (picture) is likely to use his party’s national convention this Sunday to issue a stern warning to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) that it must quickly bring concrete and tangible changes to the states it governs, in order to convince voters that the DAP, PKR and PAS can be trusted to take over the federal government from Barisan Nasional (BN).
The Malaysian Insider understand from DAP sources that the party boss will use the convention as a platform to set clear goals not just for his party but for its partners in the coalition as well, ahead of general elections which many political pundits expect to be called by next year.
Lim’s address to the party faithful will be the first significant acknowledgement that the PR coalition needs to do more to convince ordinary Malaysians it is capable of taking power.
“We cannot just continue to use the excuse that we are new at ruling the states we control.
“We have to bring about substantive reforms,” a party source told The Malaysian Insider.
The DAP, PKR and PAS combined to deny BN its traditional two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008, before coming together to form the PR alliance.
The tripartite alliance initially controlled five states, before losing Perak to BN in a power grab last year.
While BN and Umno are still grappling with the fallout from its disappointing showing at the ballot box in 2008, PR parties have also been hit by their own squabbling.
BN, under Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has also seized some momentum away from PR.
PR officials have privately acknowledged as well that the federal opposition coalition must regain the initiative.
At this weekend’s convention, Lim will put forward his argument that how PR runs the states it still controls will be crucial to whether it can win federal power.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Selangor and Penang are key states in PR’s strategy of showcasing its abilities to the public.
As a measure of the urgency faced by PR, Lim, who is Penang Chief Minister, has been busy travelling abroad in an effort to secure foreign investments for his state.
Selangor, which is led by PKR, has seen the recent appointment of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as state economic advisor. Anwar’s appointment is seen as an effort to boost the state’s economic performance ahead of national polls.
Prime minister Najib is also staking BN’s hold on power on the economy.
It is understood that Najib is hoping to grow the national economy by at least six per cent and bring back a feel-good factor before he considers calling snap polls.
Another important message Lim will deliver to his members this weekend is that PR can no longer hope to be just “not as bad” as BN.
He will tell his party that they must be an attractive choice for voters, in what is an acknowledgement that PR must stop behaving like a perpetual opposition and instead, showcase its abilities at being a ruling party through the states it now governs.
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