DAP said the statistics clearly show that the party's successes in Sarawak could not have been achieved solely with the backing of Chinese voters.

NONE Secretary-general Lim Guan Eng ( cente in photo ) said that without support from other communities, the party would have won only six seats, instead of 12 during the April 16 polls.

He said that data from polling stations show that the party won at least 30 percent in seats where the bumiputera electorate made up a sizeable minority.

"In some of these seats, the DAP far exceeded the 30 percent mark among the non-Chinese voters," he told a press conference at party national headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

In the polls, DAP swept almost all seats in urban areas, doubling its tally in the state legislative assembly.

Following this, some BN component parties had accused DAP of adopting a pro-Chinese campaign to win votes, a charge which it has vehemently denied.

Umno's mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia had also claimed that the DAP victory was a sign that the Chinese community was trying to dilute Malay political power.

 

Numbers say otherwise

But DAP's preliminary analysis points that a number of its victories would have been unachievable without support from non-Chinese voters.

In the Kidurong seat for example, where bumiputera voters make up nearly half of the electorate, DAP estimates that it won about 63 percent of the bumiputera vote.

In the case of Meradong , where 43 percent of the electorate are bumiputeras, the party estimates that it won 46 percent of the bumiputera vote.

NONE In view of the statistics, Lim said Utusan Malaysia's attempt to interpret DAP's victory purely as a result of Chinese support as a "desperate" move and that BN was in denial over its shortcomings resulting in the defeats.

"That is wrong, that is false and that is evil. It shows BN doesn't want to accept the verdict of the people, that is to demand for change, anti-corruption and good governance.

"This view ignores the fact that the level of BN support fell by more than 10 percent in 22 Dayak and Orang Ulu majority seats and in eight Malay-Melanau majority seats."

He pointed out that the electoral divide is not based on race and demography, but on geography.

"If there is any divide, it is not racial divide but the geographical urban-rural divide which is regardless of race."

Lim pointed out that rural Chinese voters in the Bawang Assan constituency, retained by SUPP's incumbent Wong Soon Koh, did not vote for DAP.

azlan He admitted that non-Chinese support in some areas such as Batu Kawah (41 percent non-Chinese), Dudong (47 percent non-Chinese) and Bawang Assan (38 percent non-Chinese) did not reach the average 30 percent (25 percent for Batu Kawah, 28 percent for Dudong, 20 percent for Bawang Assan).

"It has to be recognised that the DAP candidates in these areas, all of who were first-time candidates with very little financial resources compared to their BN counterparts, were facing an uphill challenge right from the start in terms of fighting against the influence of money politics and vote-buying," he said.

Lim said the DAP acknowledges that it needs to reach out and recruit more non-Chinese leaders and members as part of the party’s larger strategy to reach out to non-Chinese voters in Sarawak.

Lim cited the success of Leon Donald, the party’s candidate for Simanggang, who reduced BN's popular vote percentage from 83 percent in 2006 to 66 percent in 2011.

NONE This, he said, is a concrete example of the DAP’s commitment to recruit and support non-Chinese leaders who can represent the interests of marginalised communities outside the traditional areas of support for the DAP in urban areas.

On DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang's proposal to merge Sarawak DAP with Snap, Lim declined comment before this is explored by state DAP leaders.

However he agreed that the move will strengthen not just the DAP but Pakatan Rakyat as a whole by demonstration the multi-ethnic appeal of the coalition.

"We want to unite all anti-BN forces as much as possible."

Pua pursues EC

In a related development, DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua reiterated that Election Commission (EC) deputy chairperson Wan Ahmad Wan Omar should publicly apologise to DAP if he cannot prove his allegation that DAP ran a racist campaign during the Sarawak polls.

NONE Pua (left in photo) said that Wan Ahmad's clarification to news portal Free Malaysia Today that he was merely quoting Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim in making the accusation, showed the EC is far from a free and fair body.

"EC is now finding excuses to answer to BN after it failed to prevent the swing of voters to the opposition," he said, describing the EC as nothing more than "BN's cat's paw".

He also rebutted Wan Ahmad's statement that putting up banners that read "a vote for SUPP is a voter for (Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul) Taib (Mahmud)" was a personal attack which had violated the election law.

"We want to ask EC, isn't Taib the head of Sarawak BN and SUPP a component party of Sarawak BN? Why is this a personal attack?"