DAP’s branding is “Chinese”

Oh, and we still need DAP. And DAP needs to remain strong. And DAP needs to remain Chinese. This is because a strong Chinese DAP would be seen as a threat to the Malays, Bahasa Malaysia, Islam, and the Raja-Raja Melayu. And this means the Malays would need the safety and protection of Perikatan Nasional against the threat of a chauvinist DAP.

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Raja Petra Kamarudin

The DAP leaders with Christian names — such as Ronnie, Tony, Hannah, Anthony, Danny, Teresa, David, James, Thomas, Jannie, John, Howard, Frankie, etc. — are having a war of words as to whether DAP is a Chinese party or a “Malaysian” party.

DAP is a party that was formed by PAP when Singapore split from Malaysia on 9th August 1965 due to differences between Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee Kuan Yew.

There were a number of differences, but the retak menjadi belah was when Kuan Yew insisted that he be made the Prime Minister instead of the Chief Minister of Singapore. The Tunku told Kuan Yew if he wants to be a Prime Minister then go form his own country because Malaysia cannot have two prime ministers.

Ronnie Liu is reminding DAP where its support base comes from

READ MORE HERE:
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2. Liu Is The Chinese Chauvinist We Do Not Need, Says Pua
3. Hannah Yeoh Ticks Off Ronnie Liu Over ‘Non-Chinese DAP’ Remark

Anyway, since 1965, DAP’s mission and vision was to take over Malaysia and dilute the Malayness of the Alliance government of Umno, MCA and MIC. Even though the Alliance was a multi-racial coalition, Umno or the Malays were very much in control of the coalition and the government.

In the 1964 general election, the Alliance party won 59% of the votes and 86% of the seats. PAP won just 2% of the votes and 2% of the seats. PAS, on the other hand, won 15% of the votes and 9% of the seats. The other five parties combined won about 24% of the votes and about 3% of the seats.

More importantly, MCA won 27 seats against only 1 for PAP. Even the Socialist Front and PPP won 2 seats each. In short, Malaysians, especially the Chinese, rejected PAP because they did not know what PAP stood for.

A year later, PAP, which was a Singapore party, could no longer operate in Malaysia (since Singapore was no longer part of Malaysia) and PAP formed DAP, its Malaysian wing. And DAP needed to face off with MCA for the Chinese votes.

Hence DAP needed to be more Chinese than MCA (and later, in 1969, than Gerakan as well).

DAP’s branding is Chinese and this is why it got 97% of the Chinese votes

Gerakan, which started as a multi-racial party, soon became Chinese-based. So now there were three contenders for the Chinese votes — DAP, MCA and Gerakan.

In the 1969 general election, DAP won 13 seats (up from 1 seat the general election before that when it contested as PAP). MCA won 13 seats (down from 27 seats the general election before that). And Gerakan (which was formed just a year before that) won 8 seats.

The bottom line is: in 1964, PAP and MCA won 28 seats combined. In 1969, DAP, MCA and Gerakan won 34 seats combined (DAP 13, MCA 13 and Gerakan 8).

Clearly, the contest was between Umno and PAS for the Malay votes, and between DAP, MCA and Gerakan for the Chinese votes. From GE2 in 1964 right up to GE14 in 2018, it was always about Malay votes and Chinese votes.

Now DAP wants to abandon its Chinese branding. That would be just like Umno abandoning its Malay branding and PAS abandoning its Islamic branding (or PKR abandoning its “Anwar Ibrahim for Prime Minister” branding).

The Chinese support DAP because its branding is Chinese

Ronnie Liu is correct. DAP is about Chinese causes. That is DAP’s branding.

Chinese schools. Chinese-language education. Opposing Islamic Sharia laws, especially Hudud. Opposing the Dasar Ekonomi Baru. Opposing Article 153 and special privileges for the Malays. Opposing Jawi in schools. Opposing what Lim Kit Siang calls “Malay hegemony” a.k.a. Umno. And much more.

For DAP to abandon its Chinese-ness and Chinese branding would make them irrelevant. Why would 97% of the Chinese voters vote for DAP if it is merely another multiracial party a la PKR, PPP, Gerakan, and so on.

DAP needs to be a hardcore Chinese party just like Umno needs to be a hardcore Malay party and PAS a hardcore Islamic party. To change track would mean they would lose their traditional support base.

This is all about branding. Why do you think Xerox, a leading copy machine brand, failed when it diversified into computers — and IBM, a leading computer brand, failed when it diversified into copy machines?

As far as the market was concerned, Xerox means copy machines and IBM means computers, and not the other way around.

The more Chinese DAP is, the more the Malays support Perikatan Nasional

Umno means Malay. PAS means Islam. DAP means Chinese. PKR means Anwar Ibrahim. As for the others — Bersatu, Gerakan, MCA, MIC, PPP, etc. — Malaysians do not really know what they mean.

Hence Bersatu needs to make sure that its “Perpaduan Ummah” branding succeeds. And for this to happen, Umno, PAS and Bersatu must unite under Perikatan Nasional.

Bersatu also needs to convince the non-Malays, Sabahans and Sarawakians that “Perpaduan Ummah” does not translate to an erosion of the rights of the non-Malays, Sabah and Sarawak.

And this is a very difficult fine road to walk. On the one hand, Bersatu is about “Perpaduan Ummah”, while, on the other hand, it is also inclusive of the rights and interests of the non-Malays, Sabahans and Sarawakians.

If Bersatu succeeds in this branding exercise, Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional would be the second miracle after Tun Razak Hussein’s Barisan Nasional of 48 years earlier in 1973.

Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional is the second miracle after Tun Razak’s Barisan Nasional in 1973

And that is why some in Umno oppose “Perpaduan Ummah” and Perikatan Nasional. A successful “Perpaduan Ummah” and Perikatan Nasional would mean the Malays are now safe and protected and no longer need Umno for their future and survival.

In short, Umno would no longer be the taiko because we have a new taiko in town.

Oh, and we still need DAP. And DAP needs to remain strong. And DAP needs to remain Chinese. This is because a strong Chinese DAP would be seen as a threat to the Malays, Bahasa Malaysia, Islam, and the Raja-Raja Melayu. And this means the Malays would need the safety and protection of Perikatan Nasional against the threat of a chauvinist DAP.

The Malays need to be convinced that the Chinese have stolen Singapore, Penang and Kuala Lumpur from the Malays and that they now want to steal the rest of Malaysia as well. Is that racism? No, that is marketing. And, in marketing, you need proper branding. Yes, this is all about branding — which determines the success or failure of any product.