February 5, 2012
Jocelyn Tan’s Insight: DAP evolving with the Times
DAP’s new Malay recruits are more likely to impress its non-Malay supporters
than the Malay ground which it is trying to infiltrate but, in the long run, it is an astute move to tap into the changing urban demography.
DATO’ Ariff Sabri has been the talk of Pahang UMNO since he joined DAP a few weeks ago. Ariff, a former Pahang assemblyman but who is now more famous as a blogger, is arguably the biggest UMNO name to have joined DAP.
“I was quite shocked. I thought someone was playing a joke on me and I felt sad when it turned out to be true,” said Pahang exco member Dato’ Sharkar Shamsuddin.
The UMNO and DAP view of each other has always been extremely polarised – ultra Malay versus Chinese chauvinist. As far as Ariff’s friends in UMNO were concerned, his political move was akin to leaving one world for another.
On top of that, DAP has been making a song and dance about the fact that Ariff hailed from the Prime Minister’s constituency and used to be the Pekan UMNO information chief. But no one felt more taken aback than Pahang Mentri Besar Dato’ Seri Adnan Yaakob. The two men have known each other for years and when Ariff was not picked to defend his Pulau Manis state seat in 2008, the Mentri Besar had reportedly made efforts to ensure that Ariff and his family would be all right.
Sharkar is one of those people who sees everyone as a friend and he called Ariff to urge him to rethink his decision, but the die was cast.
Ariff and Aspan Alias, another UMNO politician from Negri Sembilan, had attended the DAP national conference in January where they were welcomed like VIPs. Since then, former National Union of Journalists president Hata Wahari has also been recruited.
The latest recruits stand out as both are from UMNO whereas Hata had single-handedly taken on Utusan Malaysia before he was sacked from the paper. In that sense, it was the first time that DAP had managed to snare three UMNO-related personalities who can now join them in challenging UMNO.
Hata, who is currently working for Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, seems to be taking his radical views against Utusan Malaysia and on press freedom to the political arena.Ariff and Aspan have used their blogs to air their opinions and often to hit out at what they think is wrong with UMNO.
Ariff, being a former assemblyman, is definitely the biggest catch among the three. He said he is against corruption and wants to see good governance and the Rule of Law. “It’s not easy to move on but I am taking stock of the new realities of Malay politics. The younger generation is less racial in outlook and more willing to go on merit,” he said.
He is also much harder to define – he is a big fan of muay thai, has a taste for serious literature and likes music from an earlier era. Although his blog may be rather too cerebral for the average person, his writing is very cut-and-thrust and he can be quite ruthless. He has commented on everything from politics to the economy and has a loyal following.
DAP Youth chief and Rasah MP Anthony Loke who took the initiative to approach Ariff admitted he was attracted to the latter’s line of attack against UMNO.
“We told them to go on writing. They can attack UMNO and explain a lot of things on our behalf,” said Loke.
But what is the big deal, some have asked. They said that a few new Malay members looking for a new platform to air their grouses is not going to change the image of DAP. They think DAP is recruiting people who have an axe to grind, basically “UMNO-bashers” who can take the DAP fight with UMNO to another level.
There has been a trickle of Malays into the party over the years and there is even an all Malay DAP branch in the Klang Valley. There have also been Malay DAP candidates every general election but only three or four have managed to win seats, the most notable being the late Bayan Baru MP Ahmad Nor who was a well-known trade unionist.
But DAP’s attempts to reach out to the Malays over the last 40 years have been a flop partly because of the success of UMNO’s propaganda against DAP and partly because of the way DAP had exploited Chinese issues.
DAP was more than happy to ride on its reputation as a champion of all things Chinese but their troubles in the wake of their success in Penang and Perak drummed home the point that their Chinese image had become a liability.
All those years of attacking UMNO, the NEP, Islamic policies, the civil service, the Police and, more recently, the MACC have come home to roost.
The targets of their criticism have one thing in common – they are largely associated with the Malays and Islam. Their attacks have been akin to Malay-bashing and the party has, rightly or wrongly, acquired an anti-Malay reputation.
Last year, the party launched its Malay website, Roketkini. It is not the most original of names but it is quite an interesting site although critics say that it sounds like a Malay apologist for a Chinese party.
It is quite obvious that Roketkini’s purpose is also to debunk Malay prejudices against DAP, defending the party against notions that it is anti-Islam, supports the Islamic State, is trying to promote a Christian Prime Minister, has communist leanings and so on.
Malays in the party find themselves always having to explain themselves to their Malay friends. For instance, former vice-chairman Zulkifli Md Noor still gets puzzled looks after 30 years in the party. Some of his friends think that DAP uses Malays like him as tokens and that the party is not sincere in giving them real roles. His detractors see him as a DAP poodle.
They said that if DAP genuinely wanted to promote the Malays, people like Zulkifli should be given winnable seats. Instead, he has contested three general elections in seats where he was pitched against big guns and where he had little chance of winning. In 2008, he even had to make way for a well-connected Indian candidate even though he had been doing work in that particular constituency.
But Ariff is definitely not going to be anyone’s poodle. For instance, his blog is called Sakmongkol AK47 – Sakmongkol is the name of a famous kickboxer whereas AK47 is a Russian-made firearm.
He described his first few interactions with DAP as a culture shock but as he said: “Just because I am in DAP does not make me less of a Malay, I’m still a loyal subject of the Rulers.”
During a party retreat in Seremban last year, Lim Kit Siang had urged members to correct their image by attracting young, liberal and progressive Malays.
“We’re not only targeting former UMNO members, we’re also looking for fresh faces without any political history,” said Loke.
DAP, said social historian Dr Neil Khor, is by constitution a non-sectarian party. “They have to practise what they preach. They have been dominated by a Chinese type of thinking. I think they are trying to say that, yes, we can’t deny that we have become an ethnic Chinese party but we are pushing for a more multi-racial outlook,” said Dr Khor.
The latest Malay recruits will probably be made candidates in the next general election. The question is whether they will be tested in Malay seats where they will have to struggle to win or given safe, Chinese-majority seats.
“If they pull it off, it will be a real game changer for DAP,” said Dr Khor. Everyone is watching what the party is planning to do in Perak. Pakatan Rakyat politicians have convinced themselves that they will take back Perak and the talk is that DAP wants to have their own Malay candidate for mentri besar. They have been badly damaged by attacks that although they won an overwhelming number of seats in the state, they had to surrender the mentri besar post to PAS.
Not everyone in the party is thrilled about the entry of Ariff, Aspan and Hata. First, there are the suspicions and stigma attached to party-hoppers. Then there is the concern about whether they will be able to adapt to the party’s way of doing things.
A few of them are also concerned about the Johor-born Hata. They saw how he bit the hand that fed him and his ferocious flogging of his then employer shocked many people. They are worried the firebrand could easily turn around and bite DAP if things do not go his way in future. They can see that this is a guy who goes for broke.
They want the party to recruit more Malays like Zairil Khir Johari (right) and former Transparency
Malaysia chief Senator Tunku Aziz Ibrahim. They have no baggage and do not ask too many embarrassing questions or cause trouble in the party.
Zairil, whose stepfather is the late UMNO veteran Tan Sri Khir Johari, is seen as a rising star in Penang where he is the Chief Minister’s blue-eyed boy. The Internet chatter is projecting him as the next deputy chief minister. But to be fair to him, he is a genuinely likeable person, humble and hard-working.
“All these people joined without any preconditions. They may or may not be candidates in the general election and we do not have carrots to dangle,” said Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi.
The party constitution specifies at least two years of membership because anyone can be considered as an election candidate but it can be waived by the central executive committee as in the case of Ooi, who joined the party about six months before the 2008 election.
The short-term take on this is that DAP is trying to dilute its Chinese image which is becoming a liability in its quest for power. But the new recruits are more likely to impress DAP’s non-Malay ground rather than the Malays whom they are trying to attract. No one can quite see Malays rushing to join DAP in the near future and especially given the way DAP leaders attack Malay institutions.
But in the long term, this is an astute party that has begun to tap into the changes taking place in the urban areas and among urban Malays.
The Malay population is growing very fast and will soon dominate the electorate map in such a way that future general elections will be largely a Malay fight. Any party that wants to stay relevant will have to be acceptable to the Malays in one way or another.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
Dear Jocelyn and Din Merican,
I personally welcome DAP transformational move. Finally they bite the reality of Malaysian Politics. I also in agreement that the Gen Y will change the terms and engagement in Malaysia.
I do pray that their recent move will be reflected well in their claim and write up not like their allies PR and PAS (with facts please). Like a gentlemen I hope.
I personally believe Jocelyn Tan is also for ABBN – Anything But BN. She is, however, a realist. She knows who pays her salary at the end of every month.
This is a bright spot on the rather ominously gloomy Malaysian scenerio we are mired in currently.
Ariff Sabri, Aspan Alias and Hata Ramli are upstanding people, and that they are Malays gives them an invaluable platform from which they can fight against the corrupt and racist deeds of the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional. They are armoured against “infidels” and “pendatang” arrows.
No doubt, they can still be targeted as traitors and pembelot, but I think their character and track-records will serve well as defences.
There is more hope now that Pakatan Rakyat will stride forward towards saving the nation from the too-many years of the corrupt and despotic Barisan regime.
Never trust Jocelyn Tan’s articles.
She is a media propagandist for UMNO-BN and Najib.
She is a fraud in terms of being a non paertisan journalist. She has no professional integrity as a journalist.
Always take a truckload of salt when she gives her opinions and write up on the local political scene. She is a disgrace within the journalism fraternity. A media tripod for the ruling political parties.
Everybody is evolving. Only UMNO and to some extend the MCA are devolving.
Frank,
Jocelyn informed me recently via e-mail that she has a good following when I told her that she is being perceived as being very pro-BN. BTW, she reads this blog and knows what we in general think of her. I may not agree with her views on many issues, but I think she is a good propagandist for the other side.
The move by DAP to have more Malay members is a strategic one. It will pay off in the long term. But it must be careful how it selects them. Otherwise, DAP will be importing UMNO culture if they accept without proper screening those Malays who were once with and have left UMNO. Go for quality. People like Tunku A. Aziz and Zairil Khir Johari are people of substance and DAP will need more members like them. Beware of Trojan horses, LGE. –Din Merican
Dato Din,
Jocelyn Tan employs what is known as “sublimal messaging” in almost all of her articles on local politics. Anyone who is familiar with the journalistic trade is familiar with this tactic, used by propaganda specialists. She injects UMNO-BN propaganda in her so-called commentary on local political news items.
First time readers won’t know it. By the time you read her third article, you know from where she is coming from.
Journalism students doing Journalism-101 can easily detect sublimal messaging through a process called content-analysis in almost all her articles. In some she did it quite well, in others, it is sloppy or pure in-your-face propaganda.
She is the soft-sell version of UMNO-BN cybertrooper operating in the mainstream print media.
Ma’am,
It is a very simple rule of nature – either you evolve with time or you will be drowned by time. DAP is evolving because Malaysians are evolving and whether they succeed that’s another story but that much cannot be said of “the hands that feed you” – MCA!
Foo,
The hands that feed her is UMNO, not so much MCA.
She is a propaganda specialist of UMNO. Though i dislike her but she can write better than The Star “chief editor” WCW, who write a load low quality garbage. So, now we understand why Mau Cari Angpow looks like a mute beggar.
“They want the party to recruit more Malays like Zairil Khir Johari (right) and former Transparency Malaysia chief Senator Tunku Aziz Ibrahim. They have no baggage and do not ask too many embarrassing questions or cause trouble in the party.”
I’m sorry what does this mean? They just want YES men/women. Not again.
Subliminal messaging, Frank? More like massaging, my friend.
Let’s say that we should read it as it is. Each article to be read on it’s own merits and not to extend it to Kingdom come. This particular article has a middle of the road feel to it, and the only digression is the ‘baggage’ ‘sublimation’, to impose suspicion on the motives of the ex-UMNO jumpers, which i feel is valid.
It has been shown that subliminal stimuli has no impact on long term reason and has the emotional equivalent of a placebo. Perhaps with the exception of some schizophrenics – represented by those die-hard, barely literate eunuchs that inhabit that unmentionable turd of a party.
I would agree with you that basically, Jocelyn’s seen as a creature of UMNO, specifically Jibs&Co., not so much as her actual employers. Branded Journalism for the Clueless.
CYC
But WCW of Star makes no bones about where his butter is spread. He comes out clean on where he stands.
Jocelyn Tan writes like a snake in a blanket.
CL Familiaris,
What merit are you talking about about her present article. Of course you don’t get it. That’s what it is all about,
The article is to question the reliability of the new Malay members in DAP. That is exactly what UMNO wants you to get the message.
Subliminal messages stay latent in the deep recesses of your mind. It’s effectiveness comes in cumulatively as the core theme of a series of the messages are channeled through hideously.
The message acts on a set of predetermined triggers to awaken the conscious thoughts of the individual. Not necessarily coming from the journalist herself. I don’t need to expand on this, there are books written about use of persuasive communication tactics as that used in advertising and marketing which border on propaganda and at the extreme end, brainwashing (such as that used crudely by Biro Tata Negara, BTN, in their racist courses for university students and newly joined civil servants)
no one in their right mind would support the monopoly umno/bn has on ruling malaysia, if they are not profiting in some way.
she has learnt her trade well and uses it, as long as the sun is shining, to support the raping of malaysia by the ruling elites.
is anybody bothered about the economy?? no problem umno/bn wil take care of it.
is it true that ‘money sniffing’ machines are to be installed at all major airports? probably they’ll be tinkered to not sniff umnoputra dollars.
Jocelyn, knows how to mix truths and untruths in the right proportion to make it digestible – tool of the trade.
RULE #1.
Do not believe what she writes.
RULE #2
When in doubt refer to Rule #1.
Calling for Tok Cik to help control kak ijat. I think she’s way out of control now.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/wanita-umno-to-give-rafizi-wings-trademark-baju-kurung-says-shahrizat/
Hypnosis/mesmerism doesn’t work according to most clinical studies; and is this subliminal stimuli, are in the same category. The ‘triggers’ are pure fiction of popular pseudoscience and propaganda. That’s why many of these ‘suggestive’ techniques cannot be used as evidence in courts of law. They are little more than the glossolalia (speaking in tongues) of many religious freaks or the Alien Abductee Syndrome. Altered consciousness and experientiality yes, but no long term change in basic function of the brain, reasoning and emotive powers.
BTN otoh is akin to brain washing and pure psychological conditioning. It appeals to the intrinsic suspicion and jealousies. Mainly disinformation and mal-information. Useful in Nazi-Fascist ideologies.
Whether this writer may be attempting that discredited notion, it doesn’t change my view of her being a creature of hubris.
“Journalism students doing Journalism-101 can easily detect sublimal messaging through a process called content-analysis in almost all her articles. In some she did it quite well, in others, it is sloppy or pure in-your-face propaganda” — old frank
Yep. You can take it from ol’ frank. He is a master at journalism and has a masters in mass communications from a mid-western university in didi’s neck of the woods. But today he is more into massaging then messaging. He massages the message to bring it a new twist so he could then work on it.
Journalists in Malaysia don’t ask questions to which they do not know the answers. They are like counsel who ask leading questions of witnesses of the oppositie party. In this case they are not looking to trip the party being questioned but to please them. They are a bunch of high school kids who refuse to grow up.
Shahrizat is being stalked?? That could explain why Tok Cik is missing from Din’s blog. Annoyed at the protracted silence over the issue, he has gone to ask Shahrizat, “What’s your beef?”
Just show her your meat Tok Cik. That should do the trick.
Frank,
I am quite puzzle by your statement that WCW is clean. How did he get his Datukship by maintaining clean. He don’t even qualified to be a senior columnist by his writing skill let alone as chief editor.
CYC,
Read carefully what I said. WCW does not hide his leanings in his writings.
More Malay in DAP? what a big joke! ..only stupid malays will join this racist party. DAP’s move to lure malay members..a good ‘soap opera’ or ‘main wayang’ will soon dissappear in thin air. DAP can fooled those stupid malay students, or some stupid people sometime, but they can’t fool all the people all the time…..
The constitution protects the rights of Malays. The Malays should not fear that parties other than UMNO cannot help them. The Malay middle class in Malaysia are very discerning voters especially those in the major cities.
With Malay candidates from DAP contesting in Malay dominated areas, the Malay voters will get larger and make better-informed choices because of the competition. It will be the competition that brings the best out the Malay MPs or ADUNs.
The Malays should see it that way because they would have realised by now, UMNO has been rail-roading them for a long time. Other constituencies could also enjoy the freshness of the change.
C.L. Familiaris
I would not debate on medical findings of subliminal messaging conducted based on visual or audio stimuli. The issue is not whether there will be long term effect, but that it does induce responses. Here we are looking at the subtlety in language structure and image-setting rather than the conventioanl visual and audio stimuli used in medical studies especially on schizophrenics or on patients with a behaviour disorder for curative purposes.
Human mind has short memory spans for details on reading materials but their recollections of what they had read can be triggered later on on similarly related subject matter.
In journalism, a layman’s term is used: Hidden agenda couched in the writings, as medical profession may classify as subliminal messaging or priming.
See here
Thanks, Frank.
Reminds me of infra-sound. Can kill at 4-7hz. prolonged exposure, sometimes people see ghosts and suffer anxiety, revulsion and physical discomfort. My kid is trying to develop it into a weapon, but a guy named Gavreau nearly blew himself up – so it’s banned under the Nuclear Test Ban treaty!
C.L. Familiaris
No need infra sound. Malaysia has tested C-4 and it worked pretty well. No traces, even the identity record was incinerated in the Immigration Dept when used on foreigners.
Mr Tang,
As long DAP leaders remain ignorant and disrespectful of malay constitutional right, customs and their Rulers…no malay in their right frame of mind will support the DAP. Their leaders and MPs even refused to adhere simple regulation like wearing ‘songkok’ during opening session of State Assembly officiated by State Rulers. Malays considered an act of disrespectful to State Ruler as “kurang ajar” or sheer arrogance. Majority malays still remembered how DAP members provocation and insult to the malays during their election victory parade in 1969, led to resentment amongst the malays living in surrounding kg.baru areas that caused the bloodiest blunder the country has ever known. They don’t foget that easily like those young malay students who are raw about the history of their own race, religion and rulers.
Hey James,
Does anybody really know the truth behind May 13? You call DAP a racist party as opposed to what? MCA? Malaysian CHINESE Association? That name itself shows how race-based it is. If that’s not racism I don’t know what is.
What do you say about members of the royal family supporting DAP, James? Some people want change. Some people are tired of corruption and abuse of power. If you want to remain in your archaic mindset go ahead. Nobody is stopping you from not evolving.
James,
Which party is disrespectful towards to ruler & malay custom? Have you forgotten who abolish the ruler’s impunity? You can always ask Razaleigh
Jocelyn is a propagandist working for MCA. And it is people like her , BN controlled media and UMNO who helped paint DAP as a Chinese party.
It has never been a Chinese party, it is a socialist party which had links to communism but so did all socialist parties around the world. Among the socialist they were many Malays before independence.
And if Jocelyn ever speak well of DAP, it is because she is setting the scene to make her appear unbiased before heaping generous praise on her employers.
Do you guys know of one, Lenii Riefenstahl, who produced 2 outstanding propaganda films for Nazi Germany/Hitler/goebbels. Triumph of the Will , caputuring the Nazi party Nurembergh Convention of 1934 and Olympia, a tribute to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Her copious talents won her the accolade as Hitler`s favourite film maker- and with good reason. She had an uncanny knack of promoting the Nazi cause with scarcely a mention of it by name.
Can Jocelyn Tan equal Leni Riefenstahl ?
James,
From what you have said, I will like to describe how a simpleton can be deluded by propaganda.
Sometimes, the government deliberately leaves a ‘bank between words’ and some simpleton jumps to conclusion by inserting an answer which the simpleton thinks is correct because that is the only answer the simpleton knows, or thinks there is.
The government then will say, it did not put that answer but it was done by the simpleton himself. Therefore the government is not responsible for the self delusion. That simpleton has not to blame but himself.
Of course, the government knows what the simpleton’s answer would be, but they just give the simpleton the ‘ecstasy’ for answering. And as such, the simpleton would vigorously defend his answer and very often disregard other possible answers because he relieves his ecstasy continuously because of the adrenalin rush.
This is similar to marketing strategies that strives to occupies the minds of the target market, but a technique called product positioning.
For example, many Malaysians are so familiar with Milo to the extent that when they want a chocolate drink, the words ‘Milo O’ would just spew out even though the customer may be actually wanting Van Houten. Same thing goes for Colgate which is general term for tooth paste. In Vietnam, tyres are generally called “Lum Lop” which is actually ‘Dunlop’ who made the world’s first pneumatic tyre. Look at the stickiness if positioning is done properly.
James, do you know which is the first city in the Malaya Federation formed in 1957?
Sorry for the error
Sometimes, the government deliberately leaves a ‘bank between words’ and . . . ..
Sometimes, the government deliberately leaves a ‘blank between words’ and some simpleton jumps to conclusion by inserting an answer which the
Thanks