SHAH ALAM, 1 June: DAP has played their role and duties in the best way during the Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election although Barisan Nasional (BN) won with a very slim majority.
The Chief Minister of Selangor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, said that the factor of voters outside the area is among the reasons why DAP was unable to defend their seat, and that it should be studied.
Abdul Khalid said that the failure was also due to the manifesto and promises offered by the Federal Government, resulting in the voters electing the candidate from BN.
“Although it has just been a year since the GE13, many voters living outside the area did not return to vote and BN’s way of campaigning was not favourable to DAP.
“In this by-election, there was strong support from the Federal Government to promote and persuade the voters to choose the BN candidate,” he said during a press conference at the Silver Jubilee Hall after inaugurating the Apartment Neighbourhood Safety Scheme (SEROJA) premier course here.
Abdul Khalid said that however, the positive side is that there was increased support from the Malay community in giving their votes to the DAP candidate.
“There are similarities with the Kajang by-election. I was the PKR Director of elections, and the participation from the Chinese community declined.
“Like in Kajang, there was a comfortable attitude among the Chinese voters in Teluk Intan because the results had no significant impact on the status quo. This by-election was unimportant and they refused to return to carry out their responsibilities,” he said.
In the Teluk Intan by-election yesterday, the President of Gerakan, Datuk Mah Siew Keong, won the by-election when he received 20,157 votes compared to the DAP candidate, Dyana Sofya, who received 19,919 votes, giving a slim majority to Gerakan by 238 votes.
During the by-election, the turnout percentage was low at 66.67 percent or 40,236 voters, including normal voters, early voters and absentees, compared to the 80.7 percent during the 13th General Election (GE13).
The by-election was held following the death of the incumbent, Seah Leong Peng, 48, from DAP, due to cancer on May 1.
In the GE13, Seah won by a majority of 7,313 votes when he received 27,399 votes while the BN candidate, Mah, received 20,086 votes, and independent candidate Moralingam Kannan received 279 votes.
NS
