Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who had sensed there was something 'amiss' prior to Saturday's Sarawak state election , should tell straight to the state BN leaders why they had the worst-ever performance.

The premier was also told by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang to tell Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and state BN leaders to "accept with grace and democratic spirit" the verdict of Saturday's election.

Lim said in a statement today that Pak Lah should also tell the state BN leaders "to forgo the knee-jerk reaction of Sarawak BN in past elections to punish the opposition voters".

"Furthermore, the prime minister should tell Taib and George Chan (deputy chief minister) to snap out of their denial complex to boldly and democratically address the many legitimate concerns of the electorate crying out for resolution," said the opposition leader.

They had 'no clue'

Of the eight seats that fell to the opposition in the May 20 state elections, DAP took six, followed by Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Snap one each following a swing of Chinese votes. Another seat was won by an independent candidate.

Although BN took 62 out of the 71 seats, the results illustrated the coalition's worst ever performance, especially Chan's party - the Supp - which lost eight out of the 19 seats it contested.

The premier had reportedly said after the elections that he had sensed there was something amiss even before the election that the BN would be losing several seats.

However, Taib had blamed the loss of the Bukit Assek seat to the DAP as a result of fierce betting in Sibu. Chan said he was unaware of the reasons why the Chinese voters rejected Supp candidates.

"It is really fantastic and outrageous that the prime minister could sense that 'something was not right, something was quite wrong' even before the state election but the Sarawak BN and Supp leaders had no clue whatsoever that they could publicly claim they are still at a loss as to the causes for the anti-BN swing in the polls on Saturday," said Lim.

This showed both Taib and Chan have completely "lost touch" with the people and the ground, he added.