WITHIN a month, Penaga – an Umno stronghold in northern Seberang Prai, Penang – had seen DAP parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang twice.

The DAP veteran, who visited Penaga last month, was there again yesterday evening to meet locals in Kampung Bahru and Kampung Bakau Tua, and to open DAP’s new service centre in Taman Penaga Permai.

He also joined local Muslims in a buka puasa event hosted by Penaga village security and development committee (JKKK) chairman Husin Mat Isa in Kampung Bakar Kapor.

Kit Siang sat on a mat and ate from a large tray of food shared with the local community leaders while other DAP members mingled with the community as they had dinner.

At the service centre earlier, the 76-year-old Gelang Patah MP spoke of unity, rejecting extremism, building a progressive nation and strengthening democracy to provide better checks and balances in Malaysia.

He told the small crowd of supporters and locals – about half of them were Malay – how the 52-year-old DAP had been demonised by its political rivals for decades.

“I, especially, have been accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam and all sorts of things. I have been called a communist, the bad guy. I don’t understand how this can happen in our diverse society.

“In Sabah, you find people of different faiths in a single family. They all live in peace. That should be a lesson for all of us,” Kit Siang said.

Elected reps from DAP – Air Itam assemblyman and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary Wong Hon Wai, and Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim – also addressed the crowd, speaking on social welfare improvements by the Pakatan Harapan state government.

Sim said people could find help anywhere that had the DAP’s rocket logo, even in constituencies where DAP had no seats.

Meanwhile, Wong cited how 18 houses in Penaga recently received running water after some four decades of having no water supply as an example.

He said this recent progress was due to Kit Siang’s first visit to Kampung Bahru and Kampung Bakau Tua last month.

Mohd Radzi Wahab, a former JKKK head who was among the crowd, told The Malaysian Insight he would gather people to support DAP if he could.

“DAP is not the bad one. I am very happy to see Kit Siang here again,” said the man locally known as Pak Su, who joined Amanah after his former party PAS grew friendly with Umno.

“We are all Malaysians. We cannot have narrow politics,” he said, adding that people should support PH as it fought for truth and justice for the people.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insight at the end of Kit Siang’s visit, Sim said it was not DAP that was antagonistic to the Malays or vice versa.

Malays, namely those in rural areas, simply did not know much about DAP because they had almost no interaction with the party in the past, as their areas were traditionally controlled by Umno, he said.

Everything the Malays knew of DAP had come from Umno and the news published by the mainstream media.

“Definitely they would have thought of DAP like a monster,” he said.

Sim said DAP could only penetrate the Umno heartland after Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) was formed.

Bersatu is led by former prime minister and former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had quit Umno to take down the current federal administration under Prime Minister Najib Razak.

“The horror stories about DAP were dispelled when the rural areas started to open up to the opposition, allowing us to send in information.

“We were able to meet the people personally and via social media. The people began to realise. Even Mahathir himself said last year that he had been wrong about DAP,” he said.

Sim, who often gave ceramah in Malay areas around the country, said even if Umno blocked the physical interaction now, it could not stop the communication online.

“There are still some barriers. There are people who don’t turn up when we organise events. They feel odd being there. If they came, they hid in some corner to listen.

“But I think that is what Umno fears. That’s why they are trying to take over the Internet, buy over content companies. Things are not as they were anymore. It will get better.”

Sim said for DAP will continue in small steps, reaching out to people on familiar ground first before going further.

He said even a veteran like Kit Siang was willing to personally go down to the ground to engage with as many people as he could, even small crowds like in Penaga.

“Don’t underestimate the words that will go around. Tomorrow they will tell others that Kit Siang went to their kampung, and that he was no monster with five hands or three eyes.

“Words spread fast in small villages.” – June 10, 2017.