Guan Eng to DAP: Beat BN in ‘readiness’

Quoting an internal report from BN, he says the political foe’s election readiness in non-Malay areas in Selangor was 53%.

PETALING JAYA: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has urged party members to buck up their election preparedness in face of a strong challenge posed by Barisan Nasional.

Citing a BN assessment internal report, Lim today told the party delegates at the Selangor DAP annual convention that BN’s national election readiness (kesiapsiagaan) in Chinese areas was at 47%, and at 63% in India areas.

He said the BN internal report also recorded a 70% readiness in Penang’s non-Malay areas and 53% in Selangor’s non-Malay areas.

In Malay areas, BN was more than 90% ready, he added.

The Penang chief minister urged the party members not to take non-Malay votes for granted as the statistics showed that MCA, Gerakan or MIC are ready to pose a strong challenge in the coming election.

“I want to remind the party members that we should also improve our readiness to at least 75% when election is just around the corner.

“I feel that we have yet to reach that stage, and I urge the Selangor DAP leadership to work on this,” he said.

He opined that a well-prepared Pakatan or DAP would ensure their election victory, but this would not be the case if they are not.

Later at the press conference, Lim admitted that he was less than satisfied to the level of election readiness in Selangor, saying there were much room for improvement.

He however refused to disclose the criteria to evaluate his party’s readiness, saying that this was an internal strategy.

Playing the racial card

Meanwhile in a surprising remark, Lim also labeled Selangor as the second safest state in Pakatan’s possession, after Kelantan.

He said his Penang, would only come third and followed by Kedah.

“This is because (BN) is playing racial card in Penang, and it is more difficult for them to do the same in Selangor,” he said.

When asked to elaborate, he said he was the only Chinese state chief in Malaysia and was made an easy target by BN in its attacks.

Asked again why this would affect Penang given its dominant ethnic Chinese composition, he said he still needed the Malay support to ensure a “good victory”.

On a separate matter, Lim has criticised MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek for the suggestion to impose a three months’ grace period for the traffic offenders caught under the Automated Enforcement System (AES).

He said it was a delay tactics to drag the matter to after the general election next year.

“Now even Gerakan and Umno Youth have voice objections over AES, only MCA still insists on its implementation,” he said.

The five-hour convention recorded a low turn up as only 311 out of 1,153 delegates attended.

The convention passed eight motions, many of which targetted the federal government, urging it to build vernacular schools based on needs, to review the AES, to co-operate with Selangor government to restructure the water industry, to amend laws to allow local government elections and to take action against poverty and gangsterism plaguing the Indian society.