DAP needs to work harder, says Pua

A good turnout at DAP ceramah is not an indicator of future success, says DAP's Tony Pua.

KUCHING:  The huge turnouts at DAP ceramahs should not be used as a measure to rate DAP’s chances in the upcoming Sarawak election, said party political director Tony Pua.
He warned his party members  and supporters not to be complacent and take for granted the huge number of people attending their nightly ‘ceramahs’ as  it could be misleading.
“The big attendances, though very encouraging, may give a false picture to what is actually happening.
“If we are complacent, we may lose all the four seats that DAP is contesting in Kuching. There is a real danger.
“We must all work very hard,” he declared.

Pua, who is Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentarian, was asked to comment on the chances of DAP candidates in Padungan, Pending, Batu Kawah and Kota Sentosa constituencies.
“In Padungan, we see a three-cornered fight. In the 2006 state election, the majority was 1,417 votes.
“All you need is for the third party to take away 1,000 votes or more, we might lose the Padungan seat.
“I think this is the main concern of DAP. He is going to be a real spoiler,” Pua said, alluding to Padungan incumbent Dominique Ng who has chosen to contest as an independent after his former party PKR decided to swap Padungan with DAP’s Batu Lintang seat.
With the swap PKR is now contesting in Batu Lintang and DAP in Padungan.
High profile candidate

On Pending seat, Pua said that on paper the majority in the previous election was big.
“But of course SUPP has its best and high profile candidate in the person of Dr Sim Kui Hian, who is very respectable.
“As a well-known cardiologist, he can attract more voters,” he said.
“We have to drive home the message that no matter how professional he is, whether he is a top lawyer or a top doctor or a top architect, we have to reject him from being elected to the legislative assembly, if he supports Taib Mahmud (Chief Minister).
“In politics if you support Taib, you have to be rejected. We are not electing a doctor but a politician.
“And if we fail to drive home that message, Pending is in danger,” he said.
The DAP, he said, could also lose in Kota Sentosa, because of the additional 5,000 new voters and postal voters of 3,000.
“If we do not have enough support from these 5,000 voters and 3,000 postal voters, it is going to be a big task,” he said.
Chong Chieng Jen who won the seat in the last election had a majority of 531 votes against SUPP candidate Alfred Yap.
BN has edge

Meanwhile in Batu Kawah, the DAP is clearly the underdog.
Pua said the BN incumbent Tan Joo Phoi had received 60% of support from the voters while DAP had only got 40%.
“In order to win DAP needs more support from the Chinese voters, maybe in the region of 65 percent.
“Our ceramahs in Batu Kawah are very encouraging. We can cause an upset,” Pua said.
He added that currently the situation was 40:60 in favour of the Barisan candidate.
In the other three constituencies DAP’s chances are 50:50, he said.
On the remarks made by the BN candidate that Peninsular Malaysian politicians must go home, Pua said: “I think he is being disrespectful not to me but to Najib (Prime Minister), to Muhyiddin (Deputy Prime Minster), because we are all Peninsular Malaysians.
“Tan is telling us, Najib and Muhyiddin that we should not be involved in politics in Sarawak.
“I think he should apologise to the Prime Minister, because it is an insult to him,” Pua said.
“But if you allow Najib to come, and people from other parties cannot come, then he is being hypocritical,” he said.