ANALYSIS With less than 48 hours to go for polling in the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat on Saturday, the campaign of DAP's Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud to increase support for the party from Malay voters in the constituency remains an uphill task.

While we will only know the true attitude of the Teluk Intan Malay voters when it is translated into votes, these voters will have a significant impact, not only on the future of the Perak town, but also on the future of a political party and state of racial politics in the country.

Malays make up 38 percent of the 60,349 registered voters - more than double the number of Indian voters - and have a key role in whether Dyana will be propelled into Parliament as the first female Malay DAP lawmaker.

Veteran opposition politician Lim Kit Siang has said that DAP aims to increase the percentage of Malay votes for the party in Teluk Intan to 40 percent, up from 25 percent in last year's general election.

This is one reason why it placed a relatively unknown Dyana, 27, as its candidate. However, unfortunately for the party, the target still looks far from becoming reality after 10 days of campaigning.

DAP's partner in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, openly admits that it is only confident of keeping the Malay voters already won over by Pakatan in the last general election - and PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub maintains - this is enough to help DAP win back the Teluk Intan seat.

'Malays locked down by BN propaganda'

Salahuddin said it was difficult to woo BN loyalists because many were already locked down by BN propaganda that the position of Islam and the Malay Rulers would be threatened if DAP ever came into power in Putrajaya.

Similarly, the same scenario applies on the BN side. The traditional BN campaign style does not seem to be winning new converts over from Pakatan either.

While BN claims that Dyana wants to open Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to non-Malays, Pakatan has countered this as 'spin' politics to demonise the DAP.

Similarly, the smear campaign against DAP as a party that rejects hudud also has not gained traction among Malay voters who are loyal to Pakatan.

They know that MCA and Gerakan also reject hudud, but are still members of the BN.Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong is the BN candidate in this by-election.

Rise in ‘Umno gangsters’ a worry

On the other hand, yesterday’s death of the Sultan of Perak, Raja Azlan Shah, may have a slight impact on the campaign efforts of both sides.

Both BN and Pakatan announced a moratorium until the funeral today is over and Malaysiakini found that many political talks have been converted into readings and prayer sessions.

However, this has not inhibited  'whispers' among the Chinese voters in Teluk Intan, who are doing word-of-mouth campaigning.

Among the issues talked about is the worry over the rise in “Umno gangsters” linked to BN. This was the talk among Chinese small traders in the town yesterday, as they called on the voters to reject BN.

A pet shop dealer, who declined to be named, said the Chinese in Teluk Intan worry that “thugs” in Umno will become stronger if they vote for the BN - referring to Umno Youth's recent attack on the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan and the intrusion into Penang State Assembly.

The BN campaign could well be undermined if such “whispers” are spread at this critical juncture - for even without many enemies in Teluk Intan, Gerakan's campaign does appear to be dragged down by its allies such as Umno.

AHMAD FADLI KC is a member of the Malaysiakini Team.