Formed in October 1965, Democratic Action Party (DAP) Malaysia was formally registered six months later on March 18, 1966 as a social democratic party “irrevocably committed to the ideal of a free, democratic and socialist Malaysia, based on the principles of racial equality, social and economic justice, and founded on the institution of parliamentary democracy”. (SETAPAK DECLARATION, made in the first DAP National Congress in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur on July 29, 1967).

In August 1966, the official organ of the Party, the Rocket, made its inaugural appearance.

In October 1967, DAP joined 55 other social democratic, socialist and labour parties all over the world as a member of the Socialist International (SI) at the SI International Conference in Zurich, Switzerland.

DAP contested its first general election in 1969 and won 13 Parliamentary and 31 State Assembly seats, securing 11.9 per cent of the valid votes cast.

However, DAP experienced its ups and downs in the various general elections contested in the 42 years between 1969 and 2008, from securing only 9 Parliamentary and 11 State Assembly seats in the 1995 general election to capturing 28 Parliamentary and 79 state Assembly seats in the 2008 general election.