Many congratulated Lim Kit Siang for his return to Parliament. At a personal level he needs to be congratulated. For the DAP, however, it might just be the continuation of its never-ending internal crisis.

Lim's victory was coupled with the downfall of his ex-political secretary and handpicked successor, Kerk Kim Hock, at DAP's 35-year-old fortress, the Bandar Melaka parliamentary seat.

As a Melakan, I feel extremely disturbed by Kerk's implication that Lim's son Guan Eng was the black hand behind his downfall - with Guan Eng's men boycotting Kerk's election campaign.

To my knowledge Kerk has been silent on Melaka DAP's faction fights between Sim Tong Hing and Lim Guan Eng. Two years ago when Goh Leong San, now the Melaka DAP deputy chairman and Bandar Hilir state assemblyman, was suspended of his party membership for one day, Kerk practically remained mute.

As an ex-DAP member knowing both Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng, I am not surprised that Kerk's failure to side with the Lim family in Melaka DAP's infighting has actually angered them. Naturally, Kerk's narrow defeat in the recent general election became the best time for him to resign as secretary-general of the party.

M Kulasegaran was made the acting secretary-general as a ''window dressing' while waiting for the true heir, Guan Eng, to take over the helm. Kit Siang has groomed his son over the years to be his successor by practising favouritism and nepotism.

This is clearly evidenced by the appointment of Betty Chew, who is Kit Siang's daughter-in-law and Guan Eng's wife, as the Melaka state opposition leader. The Melaka state DAP hierarchy, including Goh Leong San who is DAP Melaka state deputy chairman and Bandar Hilir state assemblyman, has been bypassed.

The DAP national congress is scheduled for September this year when Guan Eng will be ready to resume holding political party posts, five years after being released from jail for a conviction under the Printing and Publications Act. All this seems natural and yet so unnatural.

However, a reliable party source revealed to me personally that any young, capable leader in the party would be 'axed' sequentially in order to make way for Guan Eng to take over at the helm.

These young and untamed middle-ground leaders have openly defied Kit Siang's authority. And there is still a long hidden 'hit' list that is unknown to outsiders. Certainly, Teng Chang Khim and Sim Tong Hing are the top two on the list for the next party 'purge'.

After all these years, Kit Siang has survived through all the party crises and succeeded in 'cleansing' the party. He openly admitted that the 'Say No to 929' campaign was a failure and yet he could still stay unshaken as the de facto party leader.

Interestingly enough, Kit Siang does not have to resign over his admittance of a fatal strategic failure. It shows that DAP's immature political culture is deeply ingrained within the party. Should Kit Siang, after being at the helm for 35 years, be held accountable for all this?

Some party sources have suggested that Kit Siang actually utilised the 'Say No to 929' campaign as a smear campaign by creating an image that he was still in control despite losing in the 1999 general elections.

More importantly he was seen to have smeared Kerk Kim Hock. One has to admire Kit Siang's political acumen and shrewdness of which Kerk is definitely lacking.

There are signs that Kit Siang will now repeat what he did during the self-staged KOKS campaign by creating a false sense of crisis within the DAP that he is under attack and hence that the DAP is in danger.

It was an open secret that the KOKS campaign was a self-staged gimmick to marshal the rank and file to sympathise with the conservative powers-that-be within the DAP.

It is interesting to observe what new gimmick Kit Siang will use this time around to 'purge' the 'destructive elements' within the party who dare stand in the way of his heir taking over.

Undoubtedly, Kit Siang is a streetwise 'political hustler' as some put it, short of being a genuine opposition politician that forges true changes in Malaysia. He was re-elected as the Ipoh Timur MP.

He had to be rewarded by the Barisan Nasional for his relentless effort in smashing Keadilan and PAS on the Islamic State issue.

Nonetheless, the DAP has gotten only eight percent of the general electoral support, lower than PAS' 12 percent and Keadlian's nine percent, as compared to its peak at a support rate of 20 percent at one time.

Its 12 MPs fall far short of the 24 MPs it once had in a smaller parliament. Hence, there is nothing for Kit Siang to be proud about.

The DAP carries an image of old men on guard and the party's nepotism is being greatly despised by younger members.

Kit Siang's return to parliament is definitely a personal victory but it is a heavy loss for the DAP which needs young blood to freshen up its political life span.