Pakatan Harapan (PH) should not wait for 10 years to retake the federal government, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said.
Speaking to some 200 party members at a function in Kuala Lumpur last night, Loke said a lack of confidence would result in a “walkover” for Barisan Nasional (BN) at the next general election.
“I say that in DAP, we must have the confidence to fight,” he said.
“I don’t believe we need to wait 10 years to win Putrajaya.
“What we need to do is, go all out in GE15 (15th general election) to win back Putrajaya, and not wait 10 years, because there are leaders in PH who speak as if we don’t have hope. But I do not subscribe to that thinking.
“In DAP, we must go out there and fight, fight to win the election, not fight to lose the election.
“We can’t enter the arena, thinking we have lost. If we enter the arena with no confidence of winning, we might as well give a walkover to BN.
“We cannot think like that, as our supporters also don’t accept that we need to wait 10 years for us to succeed in winning back the mandate as the federal government.
“Our supporters will not accept us giving a blank cheque to BN for another 10 years.”
Two days ago, Nurul Izzah Anwar, in an interview with Sinar Harian, said PH needed at least 10 years or two general elections to return to government.
Nurul Izzah, like her PH colleague, Rafizi Ramli, said the coalition needs to become an opposition group “with dignity” and offer voters something different but more practical than it did in 2018.
She said there will be no quick fix for PH to rebuild public trust, noting that the coalition’s inability to deliver on its 2018 manifesto promises as a crucial factor.
Loke was also asked on DAP’s prime minister candidate for GE15. The Seremban MP said the matter will be jointly discussed by PH component parties.
He, however, said at the moment, PH will stick with Anwar Ibrahim for the top post.
Anwar was nominated as PH’s prime minister candidate last August, following Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation.
The event that Loke attended was titled “An Evening with Secretary-General Anthony Loke — The Malaysian Dream Continues”.
It was attended by 230 party members and leaders from Selangor, Melaka, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak and the federal territories.
Asked about DAP’s relationship with the youth-based party Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), Loke said DAP will continue to build bridges with friendly parties as he believes working together will give rise to better results.
“We will be friendly. We will continue to build bridges. But, at the same time, we will not entertain those who are trying to make us their enemy.
“If there are parties that think they are so great, they can replace DAP, we will take them on.
“That is my message. I am a very diplomatic person. I will build bridges. But don’t get me wrong. If any party wants to confront us, we will take them on.
“But as far as Muda is concerned, Muda is a friendly party to us, and I hope to cooperate with them more,” he said in response to a question from a DAP grassroots member during a question-and-answer session at the event.
Earlier, Bukit Gasing state assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran in his speech for the event also highlighted that the next general election was expected to be a fight between PH and BN.
“Although a PKR leader has said we cannot win the coming general election, we shall not give up. We shall fight to the end,” he said, without naming the PKR leader.
Rajiv also stressed the importance of election campaigning, noting that ahead of the 2018 general election, some had said PH would not win three-cornered fights, even against PAS, but the coalition had proved its critics wrong because the public “stood up” all due to campaigning.