The Sibu parliamentary seat by-election win by DAP candidate Wong Ho Leng has showed that in East Malaysia, people's power is mightier than BN's money politics.

maika holding shareholders meeting 300807 kulasegaran "The political tsunami has finally hit East Malaysia. Voters are now more aware of their basic rights. The power of money politics over the last 53 years has been broken," said DAP national vice chairperson M Kulasegaran (left).

"The dawn of people's politics has emerged in Sarawak and has opened a new window of political opportunities for Pakatan Rakyat in East Malaysia," said Kulasegaran who is also Perak deputy chairman and Ipoh Barat MP.

However he was quick to state that it will be a long struggle to convince the other races especially Malays and East Malaysia natives to vote for Pakatan in the coming general election.

DAP the underdog

DAP was termed as the underdog in last Sunday's Sibu by-election in facing the huge resources of BN's political machinery, manpower and with the full-backing of the mainstream media.

Pakatan had earlier lost two by-elections in the Bagan Pinang state seat and Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat to BN's strategy of dishing out election goodies.

Kulasegaran said Pakatan had lost the Bagan Pinang seat because they had no grassroots support and PAS presence was not felt by the voters and the BN candidate was a force to be reckoned with.

In the case of Hulu Selangor, it was an uphill task as BN had the support of the Felda members, he lamented.

But in Sibu, Pakatan has managed to convince the Chinese community in Sibu to vote for a change in the political direction of voters in this parliamentary constituency.