DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has clarified that he does not blame its Teluk Intan by-election candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud for the party’s narrow defeat yesterday.

 

On the contrary, the says he has no regrets fielding her and expressed shock over ‘false reporting’ attributing him making statements to the contrary.

 

In a statement today, he said reporters had asked him for the causes of DAP’s defeat, and whether Dyana’s race had been a factor.

 

Lim said he responded the question in three parts, the first two of which was the low-voter turnout, and voters being intimidated by development politics and political violence.

 

The third was, “perhaps because Dyana is new, a woman, young and the first Malay parliamentary candidate for Teluk Intan from the DAP, she is not fully accepted by all three races.”

Nevertheless, he said DAP will continue to field Dyana and others like her in the party’s effort to end racial politics, while also working to win back support ahead of the next general election.

 

“Neither I nor any DAP leaders blame Dyana for our loss,” he clarified, adding that. DAP did not blame any community for not supporting it sufficiently.

 

“Instead DAP thanks all those who supported us for believing in DAP’s dream of a new era of new politics without corruption in a new Malaysia for every citizen,” he emphasised.

The Penang chief minister also claimed that Umno is the “real winner” in the Teluk Intan by-election, although it was Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong ( right ) who won and is promised a ministerial position.

 

He said Mah’s first test whether he is an “Umno minister” will be to get Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to apologise for calling Chinese Malaysians who vote for DAP ‘ ingrates ’ .

“Even though having an Umno minister will mean more development projects, these projects will benefit Umno cronies more than the rakyat.

 

“Mah will have to prove that he can deliver on his promises made to Teluk Intan voters during the next three years and not just depend on ‘goodies’ given to the voters during the election period,” he said.

 

‘Seeds planted for a new M’sia'

Meanwhile, DAP Perak chief Nga Kor Ming attributed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s promise to make Mah a minister as clear factor in his win.

 

“Najib dangled the carrot in front of the Teluk Intan voters two days before polling day promising Mah a cabinet post should Gerakan recapture the seat.

 

“The minister trump card coupled with promises of development and millions of ringgit in allocations, managed to swing the votes,” he said in a statement today.

 

In addition, Nga ( left ) said the party suffered a ‘massive blow’ at the Batu 12 village, where MCA and Gerakan was able to resolve local issues resulting in a vote swing of 620  - from a DAP victory by a margin of 550 votes in the last election, to a defeat by 70 votes.

“Despite the defeat, we planted the seeds for a new Malaysia. We did not fail. We have yet to succeed. This is the beginning of something big that is about to happen. Malaysia 2.0 is in the making.

 

“The results of Teluk Intan by election show that we have managed to break the voting trend across racial lines though we failed to achieve our ultimate aim, to win the by-election,” he said.

 

The Teluk Intan by-election ended yesterday, with Mah defeating Dyana by a thin majority of just 238 votes.

 

'1pct voters would have made difference'

 

Meanwhile, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, in his first statement after Dyana's defeat, said a mere one percent or 400 outstation voters would have made a difference for DAP in the Teluk Intan by-election.

 

"Or if the Teluk Intan by-election polling had been held  today, a Sunday, which would enable more outstation voters to make the journey back to Teluk Intan to vote, the result would have been very different.

 

"But this is all water under the bridge," he said.

 

Lim ( left ) who congratulated Mah on his victory, said DAP needed to soldier in the battle of new politics versus old politics.

 

"Dyana may have lost as a parliamentary candidate in the Teluk Intan by-election on May 31, but what is finally most important is for her, representing the New Malaysia, to win the battle for tomorrow," he said.

 

Lim added this was a first important step to inspire Malaysians towards inclusive politics instead of race politics.

'Perhaps Dyana's race led to drop in Chinese votes'