Multiracial DAP – we’re getting there, says Rara

 

Young Syefura Othman, the DAP’s candidate in Bentong, Pahang, says the party is establishing itself as being truly multiracial.

PETALING JAYA: Now that DAP is fielding more Malay candidates for the general election, the party is well on its way to becoming a truly multiracial party, says Young Syefura Othman, the DAP candidate in Bentong.

She said DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook’s move to field nine Malay candidates for parliamentary seats was a first for the party.

“It hasn’t happened before. The last time it was only Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji. Now, there are nine candidates and that’s just for the Dewan Rakyat,” she told FMT.

Tengku Zulpri won the Raub parliamentary seat in the 2018 general election. He will contest in Lipis in the current elections.

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Apart from Young Syefura and Tengku Zulpri, the other Malay candidates are Zulhazmi Shariff (Jerai), Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali (Ayer Hitam), Syerleena Abdul Rashid (Bukit Bendera), Ahmad Tarmizi Mohd Jam (Gerik), Shazwan Zainal (Pontian) , Fatin Zulaikha (Mersing) and Syahredzan Johan (Bangi).

“I am confident that we will be fielding more Malay candidates in the future, and this will change people’s perception of DAP as a Chinese-based party.”

Young Syefura, better known as Rara, pointed out that DAP’s central executive committee has also become more diverse with Malay members in its ranks.

She also dismissed the notion that DAP had named her as the Bentong candidate because it was a “Malay seat”. Malays make up 50.6% of the population, followed by Chinese 38.9%, Indians 9.5% and others 1.8%.

“There will always be criticism for whatever DAP does, so we can only do our best and prove ourselves.”

She said if she was fielded in Bukit Bendera, a Penang DAP stronghold, detractors would claim it was an “easy seat”.

Young Syefura said DAP was extending its reach beyond urban voters by fielding Malay candidates, citing the presence of many Felda settlers and conservative Malay villagers in Bentong.

“It is time to do away with the negative perceptions that Umno has ingrained for decades (in the minds of the Malay community) and prove that we can help rural voters too.” = FMT