INTERVIEW | Umno boycotting the Port Dickson by-election shows that they are not fighting for their ideals but rather for the glory of power, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

"As a politician, sometimes you fight even though you know you will not make it, but it is the struggle, the striving in itself...

"Because if you don't fight just because you think you will lose, (if we thought like that) then DAP would have given up many years ago. We lost so badly so many times but we never gave up.

"That means their (Umno's) whole struggle is not for ideals and principles but more for benefits, for the glory of power," Lim said in an interview with Malaysiakini at his office in Putrajaya yesterday.

Even if they believed they had no chance of winning the by-election, he said a political party must contest, citing Umno MP Khairy Jamaluddin who had said something similar.

"Sometimes, even if you lose, the fact that you contested (helps) you build up the base.

"The problem is, I think, Umno has lost their base," he said.

Lim stressed that it is better to fail while trying than fail to even try.

He pointed to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (photo) as an example, whom he said had returned to the political arena and worked with his former rivals in order to save Malaysia.

"We at least appreciate the fact that he realised Malaysia was in danger under (former prime minister) Najib Razak.

"It was not easy for him to come to that conclusion but when he came to that conclusion, he knew he had no choice. That is, if he didn't make this final effort, he would not forgive himself.

"So even if he failed, at least he would have failed while trying rather than fail to try," Lim said.

This, he said, is not only the spirit of Mahathir, but it is also the spirit of Pakatan Harapan.

BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had yesterday announced that they would "boycott" the Port Dickson by-election as the party considers it a waste of government funds. 

Furthermore, the Umno president also said that his party does not wish to participate in a by-election engineered to fulfil the "personal ambitions" of an individual.

The Port Dickson seat was vacated on Sept 12 after the incumbent MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah announced that he would step aside to facilitate Anwar Ibrahim's return to Parliament after a three-year hiatus.

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