Voters may just opt for a fresh face compared to BN's veteran Gerakan candidate.
PETALING JAYA: While Umno is trying its level best to retain its Malay support, the DAP has entered new territory by fielding a Malay candidate in Teluk Intan.
According to two political analysts, by fielding Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, DAP has an edge over BN’s Gerakan’s candidate Mah Siew Keong in the May 31 parliamentary by-election.
“DAP’s gamble by fielding a Malay candidate may just pay off. It has won in all the Chinese areas. The way forward now is to expand into non-Chinese majority areas,” said political scientist James Chin.
“Umno, meanwhile, appears aggressive because it does not want Malays supporting the DAP. It would be in danger in the 14th general election if the Malays in Teluk Intan support the DAP,” added Chin.
Chin who heads Monash University’s Political Science Department, also said that Umno’s insistence on pushing the Malay agenda has put the party in a quandary.
“If it feels so strongly about the Malays, why field Mah in Teluk Intan? Under these circumstances, it’s a do or die situation for BN and Gerakan.
“Gerakan portrays itself as a party of centrism and is cosmopolitan in outlook but there is no middle path in BN already. The Malays also do not take Gerakan seriously because it is a mosquito party,” he said.
Young versus experienced
The by-election will see a straight fight between DAP’s Dyana and Mah Siew Keong, the Gerakan president.
The by-election was called after incumbent MP Seah Leong Peng, 48, succumbed to cancer on May 1.
Dyana , 27, a lawyer with a legal firm in Cyberjaya, is the political secretary to DAP veteran and Gelang Patah MP, Lim Kit Siang.
Mah, 53, was a former two-term Teluk Intan MP. He took over the party’s top post in October last year.
He first lost the Teluk Intan seat to DAP’s M Manogaran in 2008 by1,470 votes. In the last general election Mah lost by a bigger margin of 7,313 votes to DAP’s Seah.
The Teluk Intan parliament constituency with two state constituencies – Pasir Bedemar and Changkat Jong – is made up of 60,349 voters, 42% Chinese, 38% Malays and 19% Indians.
When asked on the prospective winner, Chin confirmed that Dyana has an advantage.
“Dyana is getting a lot attention in the press. Everyone is ‘gila-gila’ about her good looks. Only the government controlled press gives coverage to Mah,” said Chin.
He dismissed the possibility of Dyana losing, since her nomination is seen as a solution to the continued strain involving two opposing DAP camps in Perak.
One is led by Perak DAP chairman Ngeh Koo Ham and secretary Nga Kor Ming while the other by national vice chairman M Kulasegaran.
“It would not affect the voting pattern. DAP’s membership is small but it did well in the general election. Umno has three million members but only gained about one million votes,” he said.
Dyana not against hudud
Universiti Sains Malaysia’s political analyst, associate professor Sivamurugan Pandian, meanwhile, said that PAS may face a tough time convincing its members to vote for Dyana.
“I do not see how PAS would be able to convince its members to vote for someone who says she would oppose the Hudud Bill.
On Monday, Dyana stated that she was not against the Islamic penal code but would vote in line with the party’s stand on hudud.
The DAP is vehemently against the implementation of hudud.
Sivamurugan also disagreed with Chin’s assertion that the factionalism in Perak DAP would not affect the outcome of the by-election.
“It may certainly influence the voting pattern. Many state leaders including Ngeh were absent when Dyana was picked as DAP’s candidate.”
On Umno’s campaign being more aggressive, Sivamurugan said: “Umno is more structured and bigger compared to Gerakan. It has its support base in Changkat Jong.
“Gerakan needs to manoeuvre into Pasir Bedemar since Mah was a former state assemblyman there.”
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