“I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”

- Ralph Nader

What the latest DAP fiasco demonstrates is that DAP is about as adept at handling internal party crises as the Trump administration. The resignation and vilification of the four DAP operatives is standard DAP operating procedure bolstered by the fact that the party is secure in the knowledge that the Chinese vote is with them. While this may get them kudos from hardcore DAP supporters, ultimately it does nothing to convince other oppositional types that DAP is anything more than an authoritarian party that demonises its opponents much like the Umno regime.

Does party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng realise the implication of dubbing these DAP operatives as the ‘Gang of Four’? By this I mean does he realise what this says about the political structure and nature of DAP? Probably not. After all, it is a catchy term and extremely convenient.

I have no idea if these Guan Eng refuseniks are an Umno-linked plot to destabilise the DAP or they are sincerely interested in furthering a cause they believe the DAP high command have abandoned. What I do know is that the reasons they claim they have lost faith in the leadership and the direction of the party is legitimate and is shared by many, not only in DAP but also the opposition.

While this may mean nothing to DAP, it should mean something if you are really interested in working effectively with a broad coalition and garnering votes that you think - so far - are beyond your reach because of the efforts of Umno.

Does having those same beliefs make me or anyone else an enemy of DAP and traitor to the cause of the opposition? Lim’s “apology” to DAP supporters was disingenuous; an attack by way of mea culpa and indicative that DAP does not truly wish to engage with the criticisms directed against his party. Furthermore, asking for forgiveness for backing the wrong horse in an internal political race says more about the head honcho’s leadership instincts rather than the supposed act of betrayal.

Lim said that if Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him was loyal to the party, he would stay and convince DAP cadres that his cause was just. However, this in itself is an illogical statement because former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the rest of the Najib refuseniks claimed loyalty to Umno and its so-called struggle, but left when they realised that the game was rigged against them. Yet this acts seems logical to the powerbrokers in DAP.

Lim also reminded people that it was a “dishonest lie” as apparently the so-called Gang of Four ignored Umno’s role in supporting PAS with its hudud initiative. But this was not the reason for their quitting. It was because they claimed DAP, by collaborating with PAS - remember the ‘PAS for All’ propaganda? - accelerated Malaysia’s Islamisation.

I have said pretty much the same thing. The only thing holding the ‘PAS for All’ mafia together was the late Tok Guru, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, and when he passed, Hadi accelerated his own agenda, which was when DAP had a falling out with PAS. So, the political union between DAP and PAS did make PAS a mainstream political party and to argue otherwise would be a lie...