Keadilan's supreme council today reiterated its stance that the party obtained an increase of Chinese votes during January's Indera Kayangan by-election in Perlis.

The opposition party has remained steadfast in its claim despite criticism from several quarters, including its former ally DAP.

In a press statement, Keadilan vice-president Azmin Ali said the three areas which saw an increase were predominantly Chinese areas, namely Pekan Lama Kangar, Pekan Baru Kangar and Pengkalan Assam.

Azmin, who is the party's election campaign director, said the increased number of votes in Pekan Baru Kangar and Pengkalan Assam indicated there was growing support from the younger generation in Chinese areas.

"According to our statistics, we managed to garner 951 votes out of 3,031 votes cast or 31.38 percent," he said.

"Support for Barisan Nasional dwindled about 6.09 percent in Pekan Lama Kangar and 2.09 percent in Pekan Baru Kangar," added the party leader.

Post-mortem

These statistics were revealed at the party's supreme council meeting held yesterday.

Malaysiakini learnt that party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was unhappy about the results of the by-election and had requested a thorough post-mortem.

Since the election results were announced, Keadilan claimed that the party was successful in attracting more Chinese votes although it had lost with a bigger majority compared to 1999.

DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang was quick to point out that votes were "secret" and questioned how Keadilan had calculated an 'increase'.

He also underscored the fact that Keadilan members were inconsistent in their figures and questioned the party's actual stance on the matter.

Despite receiving a helping hand from several Chinese non-governmental organisations during the 10-day campaign, Keadilan candidate Khoo Yang Chong only garnered 1,687 votes while MCA's Oui Ah Lan got 4,279 votes.

This was 618 votes more than the number of votes obtained by former Barisan Nasional state assembly representative Khor Liang Tee when he defeated Keadilan's Ko Chu Liang by 1,974 votes during the 1999 general elections.

Malay support

Azmin today conceded the party had suffered a decrease in support in predominantly Malay areas such as Seberang Bakau, Padang Katong, Derma and Ganding.

"According to our statistics, Keadilan obtained 714 votes out of 2,213 votes cast or 32.26 percent in all these areas," he added.

He claimed the depleting support from Malays was due to BN's "repressive, immoral and violent" campaign tactics.

Azmin also alleged BN campaigners surrounded the kampungs and prevented opposition campaigners from doing their work.

"BN also abused government machinery, practised money politics and manipulated the media for propaganda purposes," he claimed.

Azmin said in totality BN garnered 4,279 votes, an increase of 454 votes compared with 1999. Out of the 454 votes, 298 were postal votes, he added.

While Keadilan, he said, suffered a decrease of 164 votes, of which 93 were postal votes.

This indicated that Keadilan only lost 71 votes from the ordinary public.