'If Dyana wins, 'confirm' she won't be minister'

DAY 12 TELUK INTAN What’s happening in the by-election campaign in the parliamentry constituency of Teluk Intan?

Latest developments:

• Gerakan conducts own survey, says voters not confident with 'outsider' Dyana
   
• MB expects DAP to bring out crowd to frustrate voters
   
• Dyana's poster vandalised, word 'babi' written

Follow us as we update you with quotable quotes, planned events and unplanned incidents as they take place:

'A minister, but only if Mah wins'

12.50pm: Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan says today that Teluk Intan voters will lose out if they don’t vote for Mah, as he is a shoo-in for a cabinet minister position but only if the Gerakan president wins the by-election.

“This is a rare offering. There are only 16 party presidents in this country and 222 Parliament constituencies. Coincidentally, Mah is from Teluk Intan.

“If DAP candidate Dyana Sofya wins, ‘confirm’ she won't be made a minister,” Ahmad tells reporters in Putrajaya today after a lecture on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at Masjid Tuanku Mizan.

MB: Expect Pakatan to bring out crowd tonite

10am: Some 200 members from an Indian NGO breakfasting with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Perak MB Zambry Abdul Kadir and BN candidate Mah Siew Keong observe a moment of silence to mourn the death of the late Sultan of Perak, Raja Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah.

Speaking during the breakfast session at Rest House in Bandar Baru, Zambry says he expects the opposition to gather a big crowd as tonight is the last night of campaigning.

This, he predicts further, will cause traffic congestion in the town which in turn will anger the locals, so much so that they will vote against the ruling government.

He thus reminds the locals to aware of such tactics by the opposition and people shall not be trapped by this.

Gerakan survey: Dyana should focus on local issues

9.30am: A survery conducted by Gerakan Youth on some 500 voters surmises that Teluk Intan residents are not confident in DAP candidate Dyana Sofya’s ability to grasp local needs.

The New Straits Times reports that is according the fact Dyana is not originally from the constituency.

The daily quotes Gerakan Youth deputy treasurer Chan Tzun Hei as saying based on the survey conducted a week ago, voters wanted Dyana to focus on more local issues.

'Babi' written on Dyana's poster
  
9am: Constituents in Teluk Intan wake up to discover that one of the poster featuring DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud was vandalised.

The word 'babi' (pig) was written on the poster, located beside Jalan Sultan Abdullah, near Hotel Intan, clearly as a means to disrespect the Malay-Muslim candidate.

Background:

• The seat fell vacant after former MP Seah Leong Peng, from DAP, passed away due to cancer on May 1.
       
• DAP is fielding 27-year-old lawyer and Lim Kit Siang's former political secretary, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.
       
• If elected, she will become DAP's first Malay female MP, second youngest DAP MP to be elected and only the third Malay parliamentarian for the party in the current sitting.
       
• Meanwhile BN is putting forth veteran politican, well-known local boy and Gerakan president Mah Siew Kong.
       
• Mah previously held the seat for two terms between 1999 to 2008 and was assemblyperson for Pasir Bedemar, located in the parliamentary constituency.