DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has stood by his decision to defend Chennah during the Negeri Sembilan polls, arguing that his opponents’ tactics should be considered when judging his performance.
Loke, who lost his bid to retain the seat for a fourth term by just 688 votes, described the fight as one of the toughest electoral battles he has faced over his 22 years of running in polls.
"I have contested in multiple elections (and) I have won all of my previous elections, but this particular campaign was very tough.
"Firstly, the attack during the campaign against me personally - there was a lot of slander (and) unfounded allegations, saying that I wanted to wrest power from the Malay establishment, be the menteri besar, (and) control the entire state government," he said.
Addressing a press conference at DAP's headquarters after a central executive committee (CEC) meeting last night, Loke asserted that such claims against him had been detrimental to his campaign.
However, he highlighted that DAP's outcome from the polls as a whole was no small feat, especially in the face of their opponents' onslaughts.
"(Such accusations) caused a lot of negative sentiment among the kampung folk from the Malay community, some of whom approached me for clarification while I was campaigning.
"I fought against such lies and accusations - we took it and fought until the last moment. I'm proud to say that we still garnered 47 percent (of votes), including about 20 to 25 percent of Malay votes.
"There's no regret in fighting. We die standing," Loke said.
During the Aug 1 state polls, BN and Perikatan Nasional managed to consolidate Malay votes and bag 25 seats for a two-thirds majority in the state, while Pakatan Harapan was relegated to 11 seats.
Out of Harapan's 11 seats, DAP contributed a majority with nine seats, followed by two from PKR. Amanah did not manage to secure any of the nine seats it targeted.
Harapan election director Amirudin Shari had attributed the coalition's defeat to the "extraordinary" levels of identity politics and community rhetoric propagated by the BN-PN alliance.
Passing the baton
At the press conference last night, Loke also announced his decision to step down as the Negeri Sembilan DAP chairperson, citing the party's failure to retain the Chennah and Repah state seats during the election.
He also said it was to make way for fresh state leadership.
Noting that the decision was made of his own free will, the Seremban MP said there is no need for his Johor DAP counterpart, Teo Nie Ching, to follow in his footsteps after BN's landslide win at the July 11 polls.
Pointing out that Teo had not contested during the Johor election, Loke said DAP's leadership in the state remains firm despite its electoral losses.
Eight Harapan assemblypersons - six from DAP as well as one each from PKR and Amanah - make up the opposition bench in the 56-seat Johor assembly against BN’s 48 seats. - Mkini
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