DAP's plan to field Malay candidates in Malay-majority constituencies in the 13th general election is a mere gimmick, says a Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) lecturer.

Ahmad Atory Hussain said it was impossible for the DAP to free itself from its image of representing only one community.      

"Every party in the peninsula cannot escape from the fact that it is fighting for a specific community," he said when contacted by Bernama today.     

The USM Social Science Studies Centre lecturer said the Chinese would not support DAP if it placed a Malay candidate in a Chinese-majority area, and vice-versa.    

PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali said recently the issue of DAP wanting to field Malay candidates in Malay-majority seats had never been discussed by the opposition pact's leadership.

However, the DAP plan was confirmed by Selangor PAS deputy commissioner Khalid Abdul Samad recently, who said it was discussed at a PAS-Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) meeting.    

Speculation has also rife for quite some time that the DAP would be going on this route.     

Umno supreme council member and Kelantan Umno deputy chairperson Awang Adek Hussin said DAP was welcome to field Malays candidates in Kelantan.      

"This aspiration of DAP is seen as the party trying to seek the support of the Malays and to prove that party is accepted by all races," said Awang Adik, who is also deputy finance minister, when contacted by Bernama .      

'Nothing new'

Meanwhile, DAP national deputy chairperson and Member of Parliament for Kepong Tan Seng Giaw said the opposition coalition always discussed the matter of candidates in every general election.

Asked if DAP was formulating a strategy to field Malay candidates in Malay-majority areas in the next GE, Tan said he was not aware of it.         

However, this was not something new for the DAP, for it had fielded Malays candidates since its general election foray in 1969.     

Why the need and what is the motive in DAP's aspiration to place Malay candidates when PAS and PKR are loaded with Malay candidates?      

Some political observers think DAP is not too confident of of the winnability of Malay candidates from PAS or PKR in certain Malay-majority areas.      

Secondly, they think the DAP might be forced to field Malay candidates so that one among them could be highlighted as a main personality to replace PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim  to head the opposition coalition, should Anwar be found guilty of the sodomy charge he is facing and is sent to jail.     

Political analyst Che Hamdan Mohamed Razali said the DAP's move was not only to make Malays fight one another but also to to wrest power in certain states.      

"The strategy will allow DAP to control a state. If DAP wins the majority and has a Malay candidate to feature, the state will be under the DAP's thumb despite having a Malay menteri besar," he said when contacted by Bernama in Kuala Lumpur.     

The Terengganu Universiti Technology Mara (UiTM) Dungun campus lecturer said for the strategy to work, DAP truly needed influential Malay leaders to get the support of liberal Malays. He was confident DAP would only gamble with its Malay candidates in towns.      

Che Hamdan said DAP was also seen as trying to dominate the opposition pact by highlighting Malay candidates and simultaneously controlling the administration of the states if the opposition won in the next GE.    

- Bernama