Move on, DAP sec-gen Anthony Loke says of adversarial past with BN

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said his party understands pragmatism in politics and has come to terms with the fact that it must work with political parties that was once their opponents.

He said the unity government must continue its work and DAP has decided to be a part of that, which means it has to work with Barisan Nasional and Gabungan Parti Sawarak (GPS).

"The decision has been made, so let’s just move forward. Move on, until the entire party says we want to reverse the decision.

"As the secretary-general of the party, I’m just like a CEO (chief executive officer) of a company — the decision has been made the direction has been set — so I make sure that this direction is moving and working, producing results, I’m a structured person.

"I’m a very democratic person. If any leader says they oppose to the decision one day, bring it to the Congress and if the Congress votes to reverse the decision, I’ll abide by it,” Loke said.

When asked about the upcoming state elections and whether DAP was prepared to lose some of its seats, the Seremban MP said the party should be cautious, but should not be a pessimist.

"A pessimist is a loser. I’m an optimist. In the past you asked ‘how many seats I’m expecting to lose’, I said I’m going to defend every single seat, because everyone should go into the election with a winning mentality.

"If you go in with a losing mentality then you’re already a loser,” he said.

The party is realistic, he said, and it knows its strengths is in Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan, where it has a stronger footing compared to Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu where it has very minimal presence.

"So, we will definitely focus on our strengths and will deliver to our partners (in the Pakatan Harapan coalition) to ensure that at least the current strength is maintained.

"Even if we can’t increase the strength at least we must maintain the current strength,” he said.

As far as DAP is concerned, Loke said its key performance indicator was very simple: maintain the seats that they had won previously.

"There are a few tough seats, but we want to retain every single seat.

"Yes we lost two seats (in the 15th general election) — one Sabah and one Sarawak — but in Semenanjung we retained every single seat, and that in itself is a big achievement for me,” he said.