At DAP congress, Sangeet urges rethink of ties with Anwar, says PM has divided coalition, empowered Umno
PUTRAJAYA, Aug 16 — Wanita DAP legal bureau chief Sangeet Kaur Deo today called on the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) to reassess its relationship with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, ahead of a vote at the national congress on whether DAP should remain in the federal government.
While favouring DAP’s continued participation in the federal government, Sangeet said the current coalition arrangement under Anwar had failed to unite its partners.
“Instead of bringing the coalition partners together, what has he done?
“He has divided us, pitted one against the other and empowered Umno.
“We cannot afford to ignore that,” she said in her debate speech on the motion to decide the party’s position in the federal unity government.
Sangeet said DAP’s decision to remain in the federal government should not be based merely on preserving political stability ahead of the next general election, but on using the remaining period to rebuild public trust, regain its voice and address issues on which it had previously remained silent.
“At the ministerial level, initiatives have been strong but we cannot ignore the larger problems that we are facing as a party.
“On too many issues, we have remained silent because we didn’t want to rock the boat,” she said.
She said the party could not ignore growing racial divisions and corruption-related scandals during its time in the federal government, warning that its silence on these issues had affected public confidence.
“We cannot run away from the fact that today, under our government, Malaysia is more divided on racial lines than ever before.
“We cannot deny that there are scandals relating to corruption that have escalated during the time that we have been in power,” she said.
She added that DAP came into power promising to eradicate corruption but questioned whether the party had done enough to address the issue.
“We have faced scandals involving our institutions, including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), and our voters are asking: ‘Where is DAP? Where is your voice? Why are you silent?’”
She was referring to allegations of a so-called “corporate mafia” involving claims of collusion with the MACC to manipulate corporate takeovers through extortion and the exploitation of regulatory loopholes, including allegations implicating former MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.
“I can assure you that when the scandal of the corporate mafia hit our news, our leaders in Cabinet stood there and asked themselves how they were going to defend this? It cannot be defended,” she added.
Sangeet also questioned whether DAP could genuinely work with its coalition partners, particularly Umno, which she said continued to openly attack the party despite being part of the federal government.
“But I do not say that it is because we are going to achieve the reforms we have promised all this while because if we were, we would have done it already.
“The fact is we cannot work with these coalition partners,” she said.
Sangeet said DAP should use the next 18 months in government to speak up on issues of concern and rebuild its credibility.
