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Gerakan’s Mah calls himself the underdog in Teluk Intan vote
BY EILEEN NG
MAY 21, 2014
Barisan Nasional candidate for Teluk Intan, Datuk Mah Siew Keong , says as the Gerakan president and a local boy, he cannot run away from contesting the coming by-election. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 21, 2014.
While political greenhorn Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud continues to steal the thunder in the Teluk Intan by-election, her opponent Datuk Mah Siew Keong is saying that it would be an uphill battle to win the straight fight on May 31 despite his lengthy political experience.
The first-term Gerakan president said there would definitely be "repercussions" for him, the party and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition if he lost the by-election.
"We are facing quite an uphill battle. DAP has held the seat for two terms and with even a bigger majority in GE13, so we are definitely the underdog," Mah told The Malaysian Insider, referring to DAP's 7,000-odd majority in Election 2013.
"We will look at the results and then deal with it, I have to be positive now. I don't want to think about all this," said the 53-year-old politician who hails from Teluk Intan.
However, he refused to be drawn into his future plans in the event he loses.
Mah revealed that he was reluctant to contest the by-election and the party was already grooming other potential leaders for the seat, but he was nudged to take up the challenge as a survey conducted by his party revealed that the locals still wanted him.
"I am not only a local and an incumbent, but also a party president. I can't run away from this or be seen as running away.
"The party only nominated one person, so I have to take the bull by its horns," he said.
Despite the uncertainty of a win, the former deputy minister hopes this year will bring him luck by helping him to clinch the seat.
His Chinese surname, Ma, is also Chinese for horse, and this year is the Year of the Horse.
"I am not superstituous but I hope this will be a good year for me," he said.
Mah won the seat twice in the 1999 and 2004 general elections, but lost to DAP's M. Manogaran and Seah Leong Peng in 2008 and 2013 with 1,470 and 7,313-votes majority respectively.
Seah died from cancer earlier this month, triggering the by-election, the country's sixth since the May 5 general election last year.
Mah is facing a political novice in Dyana Sofya in the by-election.
Lim Kit Siang with Dyana Sofya during the DAP campaign walkabout in Teluk Intan, yesterday. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 21, 2014.
Lim Kit Siang with Dyana Sofya during the DAP campaign walkabout in Teluk Intan, yesterday. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 21, 2014.
Ironically, the 27-year-old's boss Lim Kit Siang has described the lawyer as an underdog too, and had sent out an SOS for netizens to help boost her chances.
Lim rated DAP's chances in the by-election as 40%, and called on Malaysians to help Dyana Sofya clinch the seat.
"If this battle is fought out in the social media or Internet, Dyana would win hands down. I am worried, however, as it is not decided by Malaysian netizens but by the 60,000 voters of Teluk Intan.
"I want to send out SOS to Malaysian netizens to help out in the Teluk Intan by-election in every way they can. Dyana faces defeat in the by-election although she would have won hands down in a social media or Internet poll," he said in a statement.
He hoped by this, voters will effect a "whirlwind" political change and break communal politics.
Teluk Intan has 60,349 voters including 410 early voters and 12 absentee voters. Early voting is scheduled for May 27.
The constituency has 23,301 Malay voters (38.6 %), 25,310 Chinese voters (41.9 %) and 11,468 Indian voters (19%).
The DAP first won the federal seat, then known as Teluk Anson, in the 1969 election, when Chan Fu King beat MCA's Dr Ng Kam Poh in a major upset.
However, since the redelineation of parliamentary constituencies in 1974, 1984 and 1993, the constituency has changed in its composition and character of its voters, allowing Gerakan candidates to win the seat continuously from 1974, until the 1995 general election when M. Kula Segaran broke the DAP’s losing spell with a win. – May 21, 2014.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.c ... in-teluk-intan-vote
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Post time 21-5-2014 09:47 AM
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