By Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang

DAP congratulates UMNO as the real winner of the Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was so happy at the victory that was “sweet” news to him on the final night of his official visit to China.

Even though Gerakan President Mah Siew Keong won by a narrow 238 vote majority and will be appointed as a Cabinet Minister, the victory belongs to UMNO. Whether Mah will be an “UMNO” Minister will depend on whether he can pass his first test that he will not be an “UMNO” Minister by getting Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to apologise for calling Chinese ungrateful?

Even though having an UMNO Minister will mean more development projects, these projects will benefit UMNO cronies more than the rakyat. Mah will have to prove that he can deliver on his promises made to Teluk Intan voters during the next 3 years and not just depend on “goodies’ given to the voters during the election period.

3 Preliminary Reasons For DAP’s Defeat:-Correction To False Reporting That I Had Blamed Dyana Sofya For DAP’s Loss Of Teluk Intan Parliamentary Seat.

I am shocked at the false reporting that I had blamed the candidature of Dyana Sofya for DAP’s loss of the Teluk Intan Parliamentary seat. Nothing could be further from the truth and I hope that this correction can be published.

In my speech last night outside the Teluk Intan Election Operations Centre, I had stressed that the DAP had no regrets in naming Dyana as the DAP candidate. I had outlined 3 reasons for naming Dyana then on 17 May 2014. That the time has come for us to give leadership opportunities to women, youth and give birth to a new Malaysia which rejects racial politics, so that a Malay can represent a Chinese or an Indian and vice-versa.

Perhaps Dyana did not have time in these 2 weeks because she is new to the voters but I quoted from Soekarno that if we can get 10 more young people like her, we can “goncangkan”(shake) Malaysia and UMNO. I concluded by saying that DAP will not give up with this effort as stated above.

Later the press asked me about the causes of DAP’s defeat, including whether the non-Malay electorate could not accept a candidate from another race. I had stated three reasons. One, the drop in voter turnout from 48,649 votes or 80.4% during last year’s general election to 39,850 votes or 66.5% during this by-election was a critical factor in reducing DAP’s previous 7,313 majority into a narrow win of 238 votes for BN.

Two, the voters were intimidated by the threats of development politics in withholding development that can be provided by a Cabinet Minister, as well as the samseng politics of threats and violence by UMNO during the election period.

Thirdly, perhaps because Dyana is new, a woman, young and the first Malay parliamentary candidate for Teluk Intan from the DAP, she is not fully accepted by all 3 races. Preliminary analysis show that there was a drop in support between last year’s general elections to this by-election for Chinese voters from 85% to 70%, Indians dropping from 61% to 50% but a slight incease in Malay support from 25% to 28%. A fuller complete post-mortem analysis will be announced later.

I had also thanked the local branches under the Teluk Intan Parliamentary Liasion Committee(PLC) that worked closely with the DAP National and Perak By-Election Operations Director Sdr Tony Pua and Wong Kah Who respectively. The PLC accompanied me for days from morning till night when I did my walkabouts around Teluk Intan. DAP lost even though we fought as a team from national level down to state and branches.

In the future, DAP will have to work hard to convince outstation voters to return home to increase voter turnout; to convince voters that development is a right not a privilege; as well as accept a new Malaysia without racial politics where a Malay can represent a non-Malay and a non-Malay represent a Malay.

Neither I nor any DAP leaders had blamed Dyana for our loss. DAP has also not blamed any community for not supporting sufficiently the DAP. Instead DAP thanks all those who supported us for believing in DAP’s dream of a new era of new politics without corruption in a new Malaysia for every citizen.

DAP accepts the true verdict of the people because in a democracy, there are always winners and losers. DAP will go back and work to get back support of the rakyat from all races in 3 years time for the next general elections. Like all DAP leaders, Dyana will also not quit and she said, “You have not seen the last of me and I will continue the struggle towards ‘Malaysianising’ Malaysia.”

DAP shall continue to stick with Dyana Sofya for a new Malaysia. DAP urges all Malaysians, young and female, to join Dyana Sofya in the DAP to say “No” to racial politics.