YOURSAY | DAP’s titles policy fast becoming a joke

YOURSAY | ‘Loke needs to do more than just a stern warning.’

DAP central executive committee to discuss Ng's datukship

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/690363

Apanama is back: DAP's central executive committee (CEC) will discuss Selangor state executive councillor for local government and tourism Ng Suee Lim's state honours during its next meeting.

What could DAP's central executive committee (CEC) do to Ng? The party most likely will only issue a stern warning.

In return, Ng will apologise and accept a reprimand for violating the party’s policy which prohibits members from accepting titles while serving as elected representatives.

Already a precedent had been set for this drama previously. Ng will keep his datukship. It will be an afterthought.

Next, someone from DAP will inform DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke and accept a datukship and the above charade will repeat.

DAP, your policy that only retired party members are allowed to accept honours from heads of state and federal governments is fast becoming a joke.  

What you need to do is stop the award from being received in the first place, not having a meeting after the person has received the award. It is too late.  

Unless you instructed the person to return the award to the state rulers or governors. Can you do that and set a new precedent?  

Revisit your policy and make it pre-emptive. Loke, when Ng informed you, you as secretary-general should stop him from receiving it.

If the policy is not amended, this thing is bound to repeat and soon the policy is meaningless.

As secretary-general, you need to do more on this matter besides simply issuing a stern warning through CEC. Even the stern warning will be a joke.

Proarte: If these DAP representatives are honourable, they would return the titles with apologies, the reason being they have violated DAP’s long-standing policy of not accepting titles whilst still holding political positions.

If these DAP politicians are truly contrite, then they should write to the Selangor sultan and the Sabah governor to explain why they are returning the titles.  

Perhaps the sultans and governors should respect DAP’s policy of disallowing its representatives to accept titles while in office.

They should understand it is undermining the integrity of the representatives and encouraging corruption when they are put in an invidious position of accepting a title and going against their own party rules.

A Little Bit Crazy: Loke, don't waste precious time discussing such a small matter at the CEC meeting.  

DAP has two options only.  

1. Disqualify any existing elected representatives who accept any kind of datukship from contesting in the next CEC elections.

2. Discard this no datukship policy immediately.  

We don’t care whether existing DAP elected representatives are conferred datukship or not. Because we look at the overall party performance, not simple tiny things as datukship.  

If DAP members think they can carry more weight or more confidence to win votes with a datukship, tell them that former prime minister Dr Mahathir  Mohamad lost his 15th general election deposit even though he has the highest “Tun” title in the country. 

Beman: It was strange that he asked Ng to refer to the Selangor DAP committee when Ng told Loke that he wanted the datukship.

Why didn’t Loke tell Ng outright then that it was against DAP policy to accept the award?

One thing that can be said about Loke is that he is non-confrontational to a fault.

Maybe this is why DAP is silent on many issues that they should be making a stand on.

Being non-confrontational may have its virtues. However, there are times when one has to be firm in upholding one's basic principles.

Be a blessing to others: Once again, Loke and DAP are wasting time over such petty issues. What is there to discuss over Ng’s datukship?

It’s high time DAP woke up from their siesta and be realistic about the recognition being given by the rulers of different states.

Pay more attention to helping people overcome their everyday issues, or you may face erosion in your support by the people who are strongly behind you, all this time.

Stand For Truth: Stick to DAP's long-standing policy on titles.

Whoever accepts state or federal titles for whatever reason is retired is excluded as a candidate for the next general election.

Problem solved for both parties.

DAP sticks to its gold standard and MPs accept awards/titles that come with retirement benefits to enjoy their newfound status. No one is larger than the party or voters' base.

SWKBH: Just accept it as it is Malaysian culture.

Don’t waste time on this type of issue, which you might think shows that your party has principles. In actuality, the rakyat doesn’t care.

Taking care of our bread-and-butter issues is more important. Whether I vote for your party depends on what you have done and not on datukship, ok? Wake up!

EmEmKay: Ng was deserving of state honours because of his exemplary performance as an assemblyperson and Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah announced that he is conferring Ng the “Datuk” title. DAP should amend the policy on receiving state honours for deserving politicians. 

Southpaw: This whole thing is a joke.

DAP politicians knowingly disobey the policy while the party leadership can’t do a thing about these members other than issue a miserable statement “reprimanding” them for accepting the title.

So this is like a twisted SOP for DAP politicians to save their faces.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.