Opposition party DAP today said it will study the reasons for the swing-back of Chinese and Malay votes to the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional which handed a demoralising defeat to the opposition party in the recently concluded Ketari by-election.

Party secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock said initial findings suggest that voters had chosen BN candidate Yum Ah Ha in eight of the 10 voting districts. The two districts which went DAPs way were party strongholds Perting and Ketari Tengah.

However, even in both Perting and Ketari Tengah, the number of votes obtained by DAP was lower than what it garnered in the 1999 general elections. In all the other polling districts, the trend was the same with DAP gaining fewer votes than in 1999.

However, BN made a reversal in its voting trend by obtaining a higher number of votes in all 10 polling districts.

In the by-election, DAPs Choong Siew Onn lost to Yum by a majority of 2,204 votes  a 10-fold increase from the previous majority of 231.

Kerk also reiterated his believe that DAP lost the by-election due to the absence of the 1999 special factors.

Anwar factor

In the last general elections, the close fight was said to be due to the waves of reformasi movement that were gaining momentum during that time following the sacking and the subsequent arrest of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim the previous year.

The opposition parties, boosted by the newly formed Keadilan, also had formed a pact to oppose the BN. The membership of Barisan Alternatif was made up of DAP, Keadilan, PAS and PRM.

These factors helped the opposition parties gain more parliamentary and states seats as well as reducing the popularity votes of the BN.

DAP pulled out of the opposition pact last September due to its dispute with PAS over its Islamic state agenda.

Kerk also said that DAP will find out from the Election Commission why the number of voters in Bukit Tinggi, Perting and Ketari Tengah had decreased although there was an increase of registered voters in Ketari.

Increased number of voters

The new electoral roll showed that the total number of voters had increased by 481. We are puzzled as to why the number of voters in the three areas has dropped.

He added that the decreases in the three areas were by 69 persons in Bukit Tinggi, 370 in Perting and 66 in Ketari Tengah.

Meanwhile, party chairperson Lim Kit Siang said that there was no time for recriminations but for a deep hard look at the causes of the defeat.

He also said the by-election had one plus-factor going for the party  that the party won the highest percentage of votes among the younger voters, especially in Perting.

In Perting an average of 71 percent of voters below 50 voted for the DAP. The highest percentage of votes cast for the DAP was the stream of voters below 31 where DAP secured over 74 percent of the votes.