SHAH ALAM, March 16 — DAP members continue to acknowledge the contributions of former national chairman Lim Guan Eng, as they voted him into the party’s central leadership in today’s internal elections, Anthony Loke said tonight.

The DAP secretary-general said that this proves party members value every leader, emphasising that leadership is about taking on different roles at different times, not about being forgotten.

“So Guan Eng, he is still a central executive committee (CEC) member, he still received the delegates’ support, he still got into the CEC, he still received support from party members. They didn’t forget his contributions,” he said in Mandarin to reporters when met after the party elections.

“He previously served as secretary-general for 18 years and also served as national chairman, and made significant contributions to DAP. He won the Penang state election for DAP and served as the state’s chief minister for two terms. All these — definitely the party members will not forget and will remember his contribution,” he added.

He was responding to a question about whether today’s DAP election results signalled a new era for the party, amid pre-election controversy surrounding the Lim family and speculation about Guan Eng’s future in party leadership.

The question had used the word “god” in allusion to Guan Eng’s “tokong” moniker, but Loke rejected the use of such phrases.

“I have never agreed with using such terms. DAP only has humans, no ‘gods’. All of our leaders are ordinary individuals, everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

“So a strong party is not dependent on just one person. No matter how strong a person is…, you need a team of strong leaders to lead DAP together, then only the party will be strong,” he said.

With DAP’s CEC members giving him support and trust to be the party’s leader, Loke said he wants to nurture each of them and create more opportunities for new leaders.

Lim came in at the 26th out of 30 available spots with 1,719 votes, while Loke came in at the fifth spot with 2,508 votes.

In the last 2022 party elections, Lim came in the eighth spot with 1,311 votes.

Following the newly-elected 30-member CEC’s meeting tonight, Lim was appointed as DAP’s national adviser, while Loke was re-appointed as secretary-general.