The Sarawak Chinese Voters and Their Support for the Democratic Action Party (DAP)

Abstract

The Democratic Action Party (DAP) is arguably Malaysia's best known opposition party. The party has been in opposition since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Although it has consistently won a significant percentage of votes at general elections, it has never been able to win enough seats to form a government, either at the federal or state levels. The voting pattern for the DAP in Peninsular Malaysia is marked by two features. First, most of its votes come from the non-Malay population, i. e. from the Malaysian Chinese and Indian voters. Secondly, it regularly outperforms, in terms of number of votes, the Chinese-based parties in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) or National Front coalition-Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Malaysian People's Movement) and the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA). Whatever successes the DAP enjoys in Peninsular Malaysia is not repeated in the East Malaysian States of Sabah and Sarawak, situated on the island of Borneo and divided from the Peninsular by the South China Sea. Although both states have elected several DAP candidates to the federal parliament, they are defeated at successive state elections held in the two Bornean states. This article looks at the reasons behind this phenomenon by examining DAP's performance in Sarawak since its foundation.