By Chong Zhemin

31 May will go down in Malaysia’s history as one of the most important day within the next decade of nation building. It will determine if Malaysia politics is going to take a paradigm shift to a new era of politics which is based on ideas, opinions, policies, and principles. Or if Malaysia would revert to the old politics where racial and religious issues continue to dominate and played up by politicians to cling on power.

Over the past year, our nation has been riddled with a myriad of problems including the Allah controversy, confiscation of the Malay bible, persecution of opposition leaders, rising cost of living, the implementation of GST. Instead of focusing on the real issues that would affect the bread and butter of ordinary Malaysian, race and religion continue to be played up to divert the attention of the main issues.

Presuming Najib see out his term, the next General election will be 4 years away. However, you as a Teluk Intan voter have the chance to put things right on track for this country on the 31 May. By voting in DAP candidate, Dyana Sofya as the MP of Teluk Intan, we will send shock waves to the entire nation.

Dyana is young, a female, Malay and a Muslim. But none of these matter as she is the same as we are, a Malaysian. Therefore, I urge all Teluk Intan voters regardless of age, sex, race or religion to stand solidly behind Dyana and send her to parliament for she upholds the principles of justice, freedom and equality.

Over the past fifty seven years, we have been brainwashed by the ruling party that we need to vote our own race in order to safeguard our community interest and survival. Malays to vote for a Malay, Chinese to vote for a Chinese and Indians to vote for an Indian. The time has come for us to think out of the box, we want a Malaysian who can fight for us.

Teluk Intan is a mixed constituency where none of any race forms more than 50% of the electoral. This racial composition is also identical of Malaysia’s which make the by-election of significant importance.

By giving Dyana a strong solid backing and convincing victory, Teluk Intan can send a resounding message to the entire nation – the days of racial politics are gone. Let us show to Malaysia that Teluk Intan is colour blind and we vote according to the candidate credentials not based on age, sex, race or religion.

If Dyana wins the by-election, she would not only be the first female Malay MP for DAP, she would also be the youngest MP in the current Dewan Rakyat. In the 1997 by-election, Teluk Intan wrote history and created miracle when DAP capture the Teluk Intan seat overturning a huge majority by Gerakan in the 1995 General Election. Can Teluk Intan do it again? Yes we can. Let us write history and create miracle. Let Diyana, a political greenhorn pull off an upset against the President of Gerakan, Mah Siew Keong in his stronghold Teluk Intan.

For too long, we allow the racial and religious bigots to roam free in this country. It is time for all patriotic Malaysians to reclaim our nation from being hijacked by the minority extremist. Malaysia needs to move forward, and the journey starts from Teluk Intan.

Will 31 May be the watershed moment in Malaysia politics? The decision is in your hands. 531, Vote for Dyana, break the wall, break racial politics.

Chong Zhemin is the Perak DAP Economic Development Bureau Chief, Political Secretary to Perak DAP state chairman and a Teluk Intan voter.