Increasing support for the DAP and the opposition party's ability to add more seats in yesterday's Sarawak state election constitute a big challenge for the BN, said Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon.

He said this did not happen in the blink of an eye but rather a continuation of the political tsunami which started to be felt in urban areas in Kuching in the 2006 state election.

The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said the situation had persisted and turned more serious, resulting in repercussions for voters as well as BN going into the election.

"We need to look at the matter seriously as the phenomenon is now truly a big challenge for the BN," he told a news conference at the Gerakan headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

In the state poll which saw BN winning with a two-thirds majority, DAP bagged 12 seats out of the 15 it had contested.

Koh further said that BN should ditch the perception that Sarawakians would reject peninsula-based parties, as this was no longer true due to the integration process among the population.

He reckoned that such a perception may have been valid for the past two decades but this may no longer be the case as interactions between the people of Sarawak and the peninsula had become more frequent, thanks to the integration boom as well as improved communication and transport facilities.

"This may well be part of the integration process where voters are no longer that particular about the origins of a party, whether it's local or originated from the peninsula," he said.

Koh noted that although the DAP's election campaign and strategy were managed by its peninsula-based leaders, the undeniable fact was that the party had entered Sarawak with the help of Sarawakians and that local candidates had represented the party in the state poll.

He added that another factor that contributed to DAP's success was the failure on the part of Sarawak United People's Party to nominate fresh faces in Chinese-majority areas.

- Bernama