DAP crippled after defeat<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's largest opposition party
\nyesterday warned that its ability to monitor government
\nactivities had been severely crippled after its devastating
\ndefeat in recently-concluded elections.<\/p>\n
The Democratic Action Party (DAP), which suffered its worst
\ndefeat to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's National Front, said
\nit would \"find it very difficult to check\" Mahathir's 14-member
\nruling coalition.<\/p>\n
\"The opposition in general and the DAP in particular will find
\nit more difficult and constrained to protect and promote the
\nrights and interests of the people at large,\" DAP secretary-
\ngeneral Lim Kit Siang said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The ethnic-Chinese based DAP made its worst showing in its 29-
\nyear history by retaining only nine of its 20 parliamentary seats
\nand 11 of its 45 state assembly seats in Malaysia's ninth general
\nelection.<\/p>\n
The DAP's dismal score helped give the Front a hefty 162 of
\nthe 192 parliamentary seats, or an 84.4-percent majority in
\nparliament.<\/p>\n
After the elections, Lim offered to resign from his post for
\nthe fourth time since 1980, saying he accepted full
\nresponsibility for the party's defeat, but his letter was
\nrejected by the DAP central executive committee (CEC).<\/p>\n
Officials said the DAP had formed a National DAP post-mortem
\ncommittee to locate flaws in the party's campaign strategy and
\nhad also brought forward to this year CEC elections due in
\nNovember 1996.<\/p>\n
\"In taking full responsibility for the dismal performance, the
\nCEC has decided to call for fresh elections for all party
\npositions so that the members themselves can decide whether they
\nwant the status quo to remain,\" DAP chairman Chen Man Hin said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dap-crippled-after-defeat-1447893297",
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