Commentary: Anthony Loke resignation offer matters little to DAP’s fate

The resignation of DAP chief Anthony Loke as Malaysia's Transport Minister over Najib Razak's conditional pardon highlights a deeper crisis for the opposition party. Despite holding the most parliamentary seats in the Pakatan Harapan coalition, DAP is structurally junior in terms of power compared to Anwar Ibrahim's Parti Keadilan Rakyat and the United Malays National Organisation.

This imbalance has led to the party accepting a passive political stance and compromising on its long-held multiracial platform for the sake of being in government.

The erosion of DAP's support is evident in recent elections, where the party lost all eight seats contested in Sabah, saw a drop in Johor, and watched Loke himself lose a state assembly seat in Negeri Sembilan. Urban, Chinese voters in DAP are not defecting; they are abstaining, protesting against the slow reforms of the Anwar government.

Additionally, there is widespread discontent over the compromises DAP has been forced to make due to UMNO's presence in the government. Najib's conviction for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International, a scandal linked to 1MDB, was a cause DAP and Pakatan Harapan championed for years.

The conditional pardon granted to Najib, allowing him to serve his corruption sentence under house arrest, may not be enough to halt DAP's decline. Critics argue that the party has become less vocal on corruption issues since joining the federal government and has become more passive in championing its multiracial platform. This accommodation, which began in 2018 when DAP joined forces with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to oust Najib, has backfired, leading to UMNO's reward with more rural development and international trade portfolios.