No more safe seat

The drizzle did not stop thousands of people to turn up at the DAP anniversary dinner at 7th Mile on Sunday evening.

The 350-table dinner, attended by some of the hot shots of the party which made waves at the general election earlier this year is said to be overly crowded where it jammed the traffic at the adjacent areas.

National DAP leaders like Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang, Tony Pua, Dr Tang Seng Giaw and of course its state leaders like Chong Chieng Jen took on the rostrum to deliver fiery speeches to the crowd who had gathered as early as 6pm.

Contrary to SUPP which had earlier on just completed its two-day delegates conference which saw the status quo in its line-up for the next three years, the mood of its delegates at the conference was somber for apparent reason.

Looking at the DAP dinner, it was a wake-up call to Barisan Nasional, especially SUPP that the mood on the ground is so fervent that people want change.

Would the DAP dinner translate into votes in the coming state election and send its political nemesis, SUPP packing its bag?

The general sentiment on the ground, as one senior lawyer said is that people have grown tired with the many shortcomings of the current administration that they want something different.

With DAP having six representatives now in the State Legislative Assembly, it is a force to be reckoned with and many political observers are putting their bets on the party to make further inroads in the Chinese dominant seats in the coming state election.

SUPP deputy president, Tan Sri Law Hieng Ding in his speech at the party delegates conference had said that the old guards should ship out and make way for the younger leaders to take over the helm of the party.

He even acknowledged that many of the party leaders were already in their 60’s and 70’s and in political term, this may not be a healthy sign, as one political scientist said before.

Delegates and political observers were keeping a close watch on the two-day event but as news broke up on the final day that there would be no changes at the leadership, many were seen leaving the hall heading back home.

In 2006 state election, the party lost eight seats out of the 19 seats it contested with two assistant ministers namely Datuk Sim Kheng Hui and Datuk Alfred Yap Chin Loi being the casualties.

And now that the party had done with its party election and with many of its leaders had gone on year-end holidays, what does the two-day conference entail in the coming state election?

The DAP, judging from the huge crowd at its dinner at 7th Mile, is seen as a formidable force which could grab more seats from SUPP to further add on to the current six YBs it has.

The Chinese electorates have always been practical and demanding and with the current gloomy economic atmosphere, the state election would be seen as a survival battle for SUPP to keep its relevance.

Politics, as the outgoing SUPP Youth Chief, Alan Sim said is all about perception and that to a certain extent, speaks of how important change is not only as a mere rhetoric but to be seen as done and showed to the people.

No seats in the coming state election should be taken lightly by BN with the PKR and DAP already forming state government in five states in the Peninsular.

With the available resources on its side, the fight between the BN and the Opposition will be equal with the electorates holding the joker.