The Democratic Action Party in Johor: Assailing the Barisan Nasional Fortress

Summary

Situating Johor Dap within Malaysian Politics

In the 2018 General Election (GE2018), the Democratic Action Party (DAP) made an almost clean sweep in Johor. Except for the Ayer Hitam parliamentary constituency, DAP captured all the other six parliamentary and fourteen state constituencies it contested in the state. Apart from the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the DAP had the second-highest number of state assembly seats in GE2018. After several UMNO Johor state assemblymen defected to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), the DAP and UMNO presently have an equal number of representatives in the state assembly, at fourteen each. Being a key component member of Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, the DAP was part of the PH state administration which governed Johor from GE2018 until the Sheraton Move in February 2020. The rise of DAP in Johor in 2018 is exceptional, as the party for most part of its history, was not a significant political force in the state.

Demographics of Johor

Johor serves as an interesting case for the DAP as the state has a demographic composition that is similar to Penang’s and Selangor’s in terms of a sizeable Chinese population. Johoreans of Chinese descent constitute 34 per cent of the overall population, compared to Penang (46 per cent) and Kuala Lumpur (43 per cent). With a population of 3.75 million, Johor is the third most populous state in Malaysia, and only a notch below Sabah.² The share of Johoreans residing in urban areas closely mirrors the national average of 71 per cent.³ However, in contrast to the significant support the DAP had had in Penang, Selangor and Perak since 1969, the party had not been able to replicate that success in Johor (Table 1). Even before the 2008 General Election (GE2008) which denied Barisan Nasional (BN) its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority, the DAP was typically able to gain a commendable number of parliament and state seats in Penang, Selangor and Perak. The same could not be said of Johor.

Johor is politically significant to Malaysia’s national politics for having the second-highest number of parliamentary seats among Malaysian states, behind Sarawak.