Keadilan hit out at DAP today for the the party's shocking departure from the opposition Barisan Alternatif coalition over the Islamic state controversy, adding that the move failed to bring about "anything positive" in last Thursday's Sarawak state election.

"In fact, many see DAP's strategy as an opportunistic move. No one can stop any analyst from saying this as the move was made when other partners in the BA were battling against the Barisan Nasional," said Keadilan campaign director Azmin Ali.

He said that Keadilan did well in the Sarawak state election in both predominantly Malay-Melanau and Chinese-majority areas.

According to the party's post-mortem report, Keadilan had managed to obtain a significant percentage of votes compared with other opposition parties such as DAP, PAS and State Reform Party, or Star.

"In Malay-Melanau-majority areas, Keadilan was well received and according to results in Chinese-majority areas, we were the main alternative party that can replace even Sarawak United People's Party," said Azmin, who is also Ulu Kelang state assembly representative.

"As for areas where we contested against DAP, we lost very minimally in Pending (by a difference of 787) and we overtook DAP in Repok by 1,136 votes," he added.

Deposits lost

Out of the 25 constituencies it contested in, Keadilan secured about 22 percent of the 170,000 voters who cast their ballot. Eleven of its candidates however lost their deposits because they failed to get the required 1.8 percent of the votes.

In comparison, out of the 13 seats DAP contested in, it garnered 45,327 votes, or 26.74 percent.

DAP lost all seats but Kiduroung, where it won by a tissue-thin majority of 143 votes. The Chinese-based party lost former strongholds Tanjung Datu, Pending, Repok and Bukit Assek. The last was contested by state chief Richard Wong Ho Leng.

Azmin added that Keadilan showed that it had the potential to challenge Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu in 15 constituencies by capturing 17 percent of the votes in those areas considered to be PBB's safe seats.

Majority slashed

In Samariang, he added, where PAS also contested, Keadilan managed to obtain 26 percent of the total votes compared with the Muslim-based party which only obtained about 6 percent.

In Simunjan, where the party had the best showing, Keadilan captured 37 percent of the votes, Azmin said. Here, BN won by 1,640 votes compared with its majority of 6,529 votes in 1996, a slash of 75 percent.

However, Azmin conceded that the party performed badly in Iban-majority areas. In Kedup, Engkili, Krian and Kakus, it only managed to reel in 4.2 percent of the votes there, he said.

According to him, Ibans are mostly either Catholics or Anglicans and are wary of Islamic-based parties.

BN swept the state to power by capturing 56 of the 58 seats contested last week, winning four uncontested ones on nomination day. It lost Meluan to an Independent candidate and Kiduroung to DAP.