DAP rep blames low majority on shift of support to Barisan Nasional

MIRI: Pujut assemblyman Fong Pau Teck of Democratic Action Party ( DAP) has attributed the small majority obtained by Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s ( PKR) candidate in Miri in the May 5 13th general election to the declining support of the Chinese community towards Pakatan Rakyat ( PR).

Noting that the Chinese support might have shifted to Barisan Nasional ( BN), he said compared to the last state election when the pact managed to gain big majorities in the seats they won, the result of the election on Sunday evening was “disappointing”.

“In this election, although the party won the Sibu and Miri seats, the majority obtained was much less,” the DAP Miri chief said.

He cited Miri as an example, where DAP won big in Pujut and Piasau state seats and in Senadin, PKR only lost by a few votes.

“We were expecting a victory with more than 5,000-vote majority for Miri, however the result showed a majority of less than 2,000 votes,” he lamented.

He said this obviously showed that Chinese voters were slowly going back to BN.

“However, PR and DAP will not waste the time but kick off the strategies especially to face the next state election,” he added.

Fong related this to the press when met at Miri Civic Centre on Sunday night after the result of the 13th general election was announced.

In the contest for Miri seat, Dr Michael Teo of PKR beat Datuk Sebastian Ting of BN and STAR’s Chong Kon Fatt by a majority of 1,992 votes. Dr Teo garnered 26,909 votes against 24,917 and 306 obtained by Ting and Chong respectively.