The Democratic Action Party’s collapse in Sabah was not a fluke.

 It was a verdict.

A cold, unmistakable judgment delivered by voters who once believed the party stood for something braver, cleaner, and sharper than the ordinary machinery of Malaysian politics.

We know it and the DAP leadership know it too.

DAP cannot survive another year of this drift, and neither can Malaysia because when a party loses all eight of its contests, including six once won with overwhelming majorities, we cannot call it a setback.

 It should call it what it is: a public repudiation. It was humiliating.

DAP Secretary-General Loke Siew Fook’s response, which was the pledge to “compile feedback” and “accelerate reforms”, arrived with the timidity of a politician who still thinks there is time to repair a deep suppurating wound with a sticking plaster. It is pathetic.

The voters did not express mild frustration. They issued a warning shot meant to shake the national political class awake.

Does Loke think they were looking for another inquiry, another roundtable, another promise of acceleration?

 No. They were demanding something more basic, more human, and more urgent: accountability.

Loke acknowledged a “strong and unmistakable message” and he stopped one step short of what leadership requires: he failed to apologise, because in politics, the failure to say “sorry”, is the presence of denial.

The downward spiral of DAP began long before Sabah, and everyone, including those in DAP knows it.

 It didn’t  require an emergency central executive committee (CEC) meeting on 1 December for the leadership to acknowledge what voters have long known and have tried to tell them thus far.

For two years, the Unity Government has taken the public’s patience for granted.

 DAP became the face of that inertia and it was not because it held power, but because it once held moral authority.

It once stood for principled resistance, fearless speech and reformist discipline.

Today, it speaks softly, defensively, and with one eye permanently fixed on its coalition partners.

It was respected when it was in the Opposition, today, the voters have turned their backs on the party.

This is where the hard truth cannot be avoided.

DAP’s collapse is inseparable from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership.

This is not because he wished harm on the party, but because his leadership style made harm unavoidable.

Think about it. Malaysia did not get a reformist government at the end of 2022, Malaysia got a government terrified of upsetting anyone.

Sadly, DAP paid the price.

This government was supposed to be a vessel for reform. Instead, it became a show-case of hesitation.

Every major reform was delayed, diluted, or quietly shelved. When major issues cropped up, people looked to the DAP to speak up for them.

All they received was silence. Remember DAP’s muted response to the “No-further-action” verdict in Teoh Beng Hock’s case?

The Prime Minister, Anwar, cannot think he is blameless.

Once a symbol of courage and governance, who carried the peoples’ hope and aspirations for reform on his shoulders, now act as though the country would crumble if real change occurred.

To say he is a disappointment is an understatement.

The PM’s leadership grew more risk-averse, more insular, and more allergic to decisive action.

He revelled in his trips overseas, as if he was avoiding the troubles at home.

He championed the causes of a community thousands of miles away, when his own people were suffering from neglect.

Think cost of living crisis as one of their sufferings.

In that febrile environment, DAP, despite its historic mandate, shrank instead of stepping forward.

Readers may ask “why?” Basically, the party convinced itself that loyalty to the coalition mattered more than loyalty to its values.

This is how a reformist movement dies: not through betrayal, but through excessive politeness.

The formula for failure was simple. DAP feared destabilising the coalition. Anwar feared destabilising UMNO-Baru. Malaysians grew tired of fearing politicians’ fears.

The Sabah results were not just a rejection of DAP.

They were a quiet indictment of the prime minister’s leadership.

What happens now.? If Putrajaya is too obtuse to understand the gravity of the situation, let us spell it our clearly for them.

Sabah is the first earthquake. Semenanjung will be the second.

Political humiliation rarely stays local, and Sabah merely spoke first.

If the DAP does not act fast, the same frustration which is allegedly simmering in Penang, Selangor, Johor, the Klang Valley, in fact everywhere DAP once stood like a lighthouse of conviction, will keep simmering till the pot boils over.

A party loses trust not when it fights and loses, but when it refuses to fight at all.

Right now, this is what the public observes: A muted DAP. An indecisive Anwar. An emboldened Umno-Baru.

Reforms have stalled. The youth are disillusioned.

A government that talks of change but is no different from its predecessors.

The next general election is three years away, but it is already underway in the hearts and heads of Malaysians. They know where to place their votes.

If DAP does not correct course, Peninsular Malaysia will deliver the same verdict Sabah delivered, but with consequences ten times more devastating.

Not because Malaysians want Perikatan Nasional. Or PAS. Or Bersatu.

It is because Malaysians cannot reward a government that has forgotten why it was elected.

There is still hope and the path may be narrow, but it is still open.

The solution is to have courage, and DAP must do what reformist parties were born to do: Speak plainly. Admit failure. Reclaim its identity.

Stop shielding Anwar from political consequences. Refuse to be a passenger in a government losing its direction.

No-one is wanting DAP to be full of drama, but we do want DAP to have moral clarity.

The party must stand before Malaysians and say: “We have lost your trust, and we intend to earn it back by acting, not by promising.”

Before we forget, an apology from Loke is overdue.

Not because he is personally guilty, but because apologies create space for renewal.

Sabah was not an accident, nor an anomaly. It was a referendum on drift, silence, and the dying embers of reform.

If DAP remains cautious, the peninsula will bury it.

If Anwar remains risk-averse, the government will decay further.

If no-one leads, someone else will.

Malaysia is telling its leaders the truth, and will they sit-up and listen?

This much we know. The rakyat will decide the next election long before the ballots are cast.

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)