YOURSAY | “Most manifesto pledges have not been fulfilled or delivered.”

Ramkarpal wants DAP to make clear they can leave govt if Putrajaya crosses 'red line'

PinkJaguar7289: As the DAP annual congress (on Aug 16, 2026) approaches, the goalpost shifts every day. First, delegates were told they would decide whether DAP should stay or leave.

Then state committees lined up to support staying. Now the message is: stay today, but reserve the right to leave tomorrow if some undefined “red line” is crossed.

So what exactly is Sunday’s vote deciding? If the decision can be revisited later, this congress is not a decisive stand. It is political cover for remaining in government.

Even the so-called red line is vague. Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s pardon is offered only as an example, while delegates are left to decide whether it actually crosses the line. A red line that nobody clearly defines, with no deadline and no automatic consequence, is not a red line. It is an escape route.

Stop moving the goalpost and dressing uncertainty as principle. Tell the rakyat plainly: DAP intends to stay in government and wants the delegates to endorse that decision.

Vijay47: DAP deputy secretary-general Ramkarpal Singh, it is sad that a person of the late DAP strongman Karpal Singh’s lineage would continue to disregard the elephant in the room.

You suggest a firm DAP stand should Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his government “cross the red line”. What red line would that be? The two of them have long crossed and smashed lines of every colour and shade, and you still serve as a pliant cat’s paw.

Sabah gave your party a bloodied nose in their state election over your betrayal of Anwar’s rosy pledges and promise of change.

Yet DAP has not learned a lesson; you just kept on being silent, did not have a single thing to say, and let the prime minister rampage as he pleased. Token attention to others does not count when his total focus is on Malays and Muslims.

Isn’t everyone “anak saya” (my children)?

What role do you play in the government? You have been reduced to a pathetic battle cry of “Vote for Pakatan Harapan; or else things will be worse under PAS”. How much worse, Ramkarpal?

I do not mind being under PAS. Not because I find their cause tolerable, but because they are at least sincere foes, given to stabbing us in the breast. This is any time preferable to being pierced in the back by a so-called friend.

Are we expected to support a band of traitors because the alternative is feared to be worse?

If your DAP does not vote on Sunday to leave the coalition, this country’s demise is almost a sure thing - Anwar will forge further ahead with his ways, and the non-Malays will face an unimaginable future.

Ramkarpal, perhaps you and DAP welcome sitting at the back of the bus.

Exile: There is a red line, and then there is the red line of red lines. When Umno-BN, with Perikatan Nasional's complicity, was prepared to put up a candidate against the secretary-general of DAP, Anthony Loke, the message could hardly have been clearer: this was not an ordinary disagreement among coalition partners. It was an attempt to politically cut DAP down to size.

If DAP delegates still need to consult the I Ching to discover which way the wind is blowing, there are other signs.

PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar's “resignation” and PKR members leaving to join Bersama point to a deeper problem within the political arrangement built around Anwar.

Whatever hopes accompanied his premiership, the coalition that brought him to Putrajaya is visibly coming apart.

DAP therefore has to ask whether remaining aboard serves either the party or the social-democratic future Rajiv Rishyakaran is advocating. There comes a point when loyalty becomes political liability.

It may be time for DAP to get into the lifeboats: resign its government positions, return to grassroots politics, work with PSM on working-class issues and prepare for the next political realignment. Let the captain decide whether he can still bring his ship safely into harbour.

Letdown Since 2018: Just making excuses and justifications to remain after all the chest-thumping.

What red line, really? The red line had already been erased with the conditions to be in government.

Since this is the situation, might as well do some good for the people and country while still in power. Stop being a meek yes-man and not spook the Malays even when things are blatantly wrong.

Being a forceful opposition is easy.

Really managing and administering the country is another thing.

Since DAP is the party with the most MPs in the unity government, stop all this politicking to remain in power and get down to real work to regain recognition again.

Maintain the support of the relevant people through action and not the better-of-two-evils scenario, which is just politics of hatred.

Lizard: Ramkarpal, your red line on Najib getting out of jail is not important to the rakyat at all.

First of all, the reason Harapan is part of the government today is because of Najib.

Bersatu was created thanks to Najib. Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad owes his second term to Najib. Former prime ministers Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob have to thank Najib for their positions. So does Anwar for where he is today.

Without Najib, BN would not have fallen. Najib is already serving his time in jail. The 1MDB fiasco aside, he is still a better prime minister than other stooges Malaysia has had to date.

DAP's red line should be something more important than Najib.

AntiRacial: Yes. DAP should clearly outline all issues that it considers to be “red lines”, including the specific limits or actions that would constitute crossing those lines, during the DAP Party Convention in Putrajaya this Sunday.

DAP should also be prepared to withdraw from the Madani government if the government crosses any of these clearly defined red lines.

Meritocracy: What are you talking about? Most manifesto pledges have not been fulfilled or delivered. Many red lines have been crossed.

That's why former PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli left the party. PKR is a sinking ship.

Harapan will not win the next general election and will lose in Selangor, and maybe Penang. DAP should get out of the cabinet, but stay to support the government until its term ends.

GreenSalmon1394: Aiya, it will be better to stay because they know whether they leave or stay, they won't be voted back in as government.

So I guess DAP will stay and give plenty of excuses for why they remain in the government, just like what MCA did from 2008 to 2013.

They can still live like kings for one and a half years before the 2027 general election. So why leave?

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