Mah has behaved decently, but not Barisan, says Ambiga

Activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan speaking at a fundraising dinner for DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud at Sekolah Menengah San Min last night. Ambiga praised Dyana for her courage and integrity. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, May 25, 2014.Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Teluk Intan Datuk Mah Siew Keong has behaved decently throughout the campaign, but the same cannot be said for his peers, said former Bersih co-chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Ambiga told more than 2,000 DAP supporters in Teluk Intan last night that BN leaders like Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had violated the Election Offences Act, but added it was unlikely the Election Commission (EC) would act against him.

“We want free and fair elections. I have to give it to Mah from Gerakan, he has behaved decently. We have to be fair.

“There are other people who are abusing their positions. Who are doing vote-buying? So we still see a lot of problems in the by-elections,” she told the crowd at a fundraising dinner for DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

The former Bar Council president slammed Zahid for “threatening” Rela members yesterday that he knew who had voted in the previous general election, and for promising to buy them new uniforms should Mah win.

“There were many offences committed under the Electoral Act. But will the EC act, will the EC do anything? No. So it is up to you to vote, and to go and tell your friends not to be afraid to vote,” said Ambiga.

“What do you have to say through your vote? You can say you don’t like corruption. You reject dirty politics, violent politics.

“A group of people threated to burn down the DAP headquarters. That is politics without integrity, and you can vote against it in this by-election,” she added.

In what appeared to be an endorsement of Dyana, Ambiga said the “courageous” former political secretary had impressed her even before she became the Teluk Intan candidate.

“People say DAP is very brave to have chosen Dyana, but I say DAP is very smart to pick a talented candidate. What you see is what you get with Dyana.

“When I first met her, she was political secretary to Lim Kit Siang. I was very impressed with her. People attacked her because she is independent. There are a lot of comments on sexism, but she behaves with dignity.

“I salute her for her courage, I salute her for her integrity,” said Ambiga.

She added that Malaysians should be proud to have youths like Dyana courageous enough to compete against an experienced candidate.

Women, too, should be happy at the prospect of another female representative entering politics and the Parliament, said Ambiga.

“Teluk Intan is going to be an example for the rest of Malaysia, for the future of Malaysia. This by-election means we have crossed the racial barrier. It means race doesn’t matter. Age doesn’t matter.

“Nothing else matters except capability. Except merit. We are going beyond race politics. This by-election is one place where we can start,” said Ambiga.

Dyana, 27, will be facing Mah, 53, in the May 31 by-election. Mah had suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the late Seah Leong Peng last year.

Seah died from cancer earlier this month, triggering the by-election, the country's sixth since the general election last year.

Mah won the seat twice in the 1999 and 2004 general elections, but lost to DAP's M. Manogaran and Seah  in 2008 and 2013 with 1,470 and 7,313-votes majority respectively.

Teluk Intan has 60,349 voters including 410 early voters and 12 absentee voters. Early voting is scheduled for May 27.

The constituency has 23,301 Malay voters (38.6%), 25,310 Chinese voters (41.9%) and 11,648 Indian voters (19%).

The DAP first won the federal seat, then known as Teluk Anson, in the 1969 election, when Chan Fu King beat MCA’s Dr Ng Kam Poh in a major upset.