Traditionally an opposition outfit, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) has evolved to become a mainstream operation. A consequential player in Malaysian politics, it now has forty mem-bers of parliament and ninety state assembly representatives.

Because of its cadre-based structure, the DAP usually has orderly party elections. Nonetheless, foundational issues have caused some disagreements to bubble to the sur-face—most recently at the 2025 National Party Congress.

Now approaching its sixtieth year, the party is grappling with three key challenges.

The first...