GE14 | The Goods & Services Tax (GST) is not only affecting household spending, but has also stolen the thunder out of DAP’s ‘poster war’ with BN ahead of next week’s 14th general election.

Speaking at a press conference in his Kuching headquarters today, Sarawak DAP chairperson Chong Chieng Jen admitted to reporters that the party is not able to match BN banner for banner, as the cost of producing election paraphernalia has increased due to GST.

“On account of this, we are unable to match our limited election paraphernalia against BN’s, especially in the poster war in this election,” he said.

Like all Malaysians, Chong explained, certain political parties like DAP are not immune from the impact of the tax.

He believes that voters would have noticed the decrease in DAP banners and flags around the Bandar Kuching and Stampin constituencies compared to past elections, when the party’s rocket symbol was ubiquitous around town.

“Due to the high cost of producing these campaign materials, we have to cut down the volume, and also save on other expenditure in order to carry us through this election.

“As we have to tighten our belt due to the inflationary costs, we hope the voters will understand our predicament,” he said.

BN component parties like Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP), Chong pointed out, have been able to overwhelm DAP with flags, banners and billboards because they are the beneficiaries of GST.

“With all that money, it is easy for SUPP to get all their campaign materials and flash them around town, but we have to put up fewer materials this time.

“That is why I say this is a battle between the rakyat and the Umno regime,” he stressed.

According to Chong, the cost of producing campaign materials has gone by over 30 percent of late, meaning that DAP can only produce 70 percent of the materials they did previously.

Though refusing to state an exact figure on how much DAP had spent on these materials, he assured that it was well within legitimate campaign expenditure.

Chong, the Bandar Kuching incumbent, will be contesting the Stampin parliamentary seat for GE14.

He will face off against SUPP president Dr Sim Kui Hian, which is expected to be the battle royale in Sarawak.

Though both seats were won by DAP by large margins in the last polls, Chong previouly noted that the recent redelineation exercise – in which over 20,000 voters were shifted into Bandar Kuching from Stampin – had rendered the latter more precarious.