Too soon to write off DAP’s Teluk Intan wager, analysts say
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Elections, Telok Intan by-e on Monday, 2 June 2014, 3:25 pm
by Pathma Subramaniam
The Malay Mail Online
June 2, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — By going against the current, the DAP challenged a pattern of communal voting that has been ingrained for decades.
It lost the contest for Teluk Intan, but it remains to be seen if the gambit of fielding the likes of 26-year-old Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud will work out in the next general election in which political analysts say the makeup of voters and issues will vary.
“It is work in progress and DAP has taken the lead,” said Ibrahim Suffian who heads Merdeka Center. “I’m confident that in the long run people will vote for policies and no longer just for one’s skin colour.”
The head of the independent pollster noted that while it is tempting to blame DAP’s loss on racial silos, the result may also be skewed as by-elections are generally “tougher” for the opposition as it cannot match the might of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) federal strength.
“[By-elections are] unlike in a general election, [where] the resources of both sides are spread out thinly so that allows a smaller party to ride on the national sentiments and issues,” said Ibrahim who heads independent pollster Merdeka Center. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Malaysian seats’ are the future of DAP and Pakatan
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Monday, 2 June 2014, 3:11 pm
Lam Choong Wah
Malaysiakini
Jun 2, 2014
COMMENT In the 13th general election (GE13), DAP achieved its best ever electoral results by winning 38 parliamentary seats and 95 state assembly seats out of the 51 parliamentary and 103 state seats contested, becoming the second biggest party after Umno in terms of seats in the new parliamentary term.
After GE13, Utusan Malaysia, the mouthpiece of Umno, immediately pinned the blame for Najib Abdul Razak’s electoral disaster on the Chinese, accusing the Chinese voters of causing the political tsunami that saw BN being rejected in terms of popular votes. In the process, MCA and the other non-Malay BN component parties suffered major defeats.
Utusan’s intention was to link BN’s poor electoral results with racial conflict arguments and provoke racial protests to divert the attention away from people’s rejection and aversion of Umno.
“Apa lagi Cina mahu” (What more do the Chinese want?) became the prologue to start Umno’s ethnic confrontation tricks after GE13. However with news of the impending goods and services tax (GST) implementation, the hasty passing of the Prevention of Crime Act in Parliament and the surfacing of numerous electoral fraud cases during the 13GE, the provocation failed to materialise.
The tried and tested racial card played by Umno, MCA and MIC in the last 50 years has begun to flounder. There are many complex reasons for that, but one of the significant causes for deflecting the racial provocation by BN is the Chinese-based DAP’s refusal to fall into BN’s race-baiting rhetoric.
Read the rest of this entry »
Kalah Tapi Permulaan Yang Baik Bagi Dyana
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Monday, 2 June 2014, 12:42 pm
oleh Shahbudin Husin
The Malaysian Insider
1st June 2014
Sebagaimana yang sudah diketahui umum, BN berjaya merampas kembali kerusi Teluk Intan yang kali terakhir pernah dimenanginya pada 2004 dahulu. Dalam keputusan yang diumumkan tadi, calon BN, Mah Siew Keong berjaya menewaskan calon DAP, Dyana Sofya dengan majoriti 238 undi.
Dengan peratusan keluar mengundi begitu menurun iaitu hanya sebanyak 66.5 peratus, Mah memperolehi undi sebanyak 20,157 manakala Dyana Sofya meraih sebanyak 19,919 undi. Undi rosak pula sebanyak 550.
Walaupun tewas dan percubaan DAP meneroka aliran politik yang merentasi batas perkauman ditolak oleh pengundi Teluk Intan, tetapi haruslah juga diakui bahawa ini merupakan permulaan yang baik bagi Dyana untuk mengembangkan lagi potensinya sebagai ahli politik masa depan.
Kalah kali pertama tidak bererti akan kalah selamanya.
Beliau secara umumnya diterima sebagai ikon orang muda dan percubaan kali pertama dalam usia 27 tahun ini tentunya memberi banyak pengajaran dan pengalaman kepadanya. Namun sebagai orang luar Teluk Intan yang kali pertama bertanding dan lawannya pula merupakan presiden parti keempat terbesar dalam BN, kejayaan memberi cabaran sengit kepada BN masih boleh dikira membanggakan. Read the rest of this entry »
Siapa yang tidak mengundi Dyana?
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Monday, 2 June 2014, 12:15 pm
Timmy Say
The Malaysian Insider
2 June 2014
Di PRU13, Mah Siew Keong mendapat 20,086 undi di Teluk Intan. Di PRK Teluk Intan baru-baru ini, Mah mendapat lebihan 71 undi kepada 20,157 undi.
Lebihan 71 undi membawa nasib berbeza untuk Mah, di mana beliau berjaya mengalahkan calon popular, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud daripada DAP dan menguasai semula kerusi Parlimen Teluk Intan yang pernah dimilikinya sebelum 2008.
Jadi, di mana 7,242 undi (mantan ahli Parlimen Teluk Intan Seah Leong Peng menang dengan 7,313 majoriti, dan penulis menganggap terdapat 71 undi yang berpaling tadah ke Mah) yang sepatutnya memenangkan Dyana Sofya di Teluk Intan?
DAP berusaha habis-habisan untuk memenangkan Dyana. Tetapi mengapa penyokong mereka tidak kembali untuk mengundi? Read the rest of this entry »
Teluk Intan: A Battle Lost but a War to be Won
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Malaysian Dream, Telok Intan by-e on Monday, 2 June 2014, 11:44 am
by Tony Pua
The Malaysian Insider
2nd June 2014
I spent 17 consecutive days camped in Teluk Intan as the Campaign Director for the recently concluded by-elections where DAP’s candidate, Dyana Sofya lost by a fractional 238 votes.
Understandably, the analysis and criticisms has been published hard and fast, and more will come over the next few days. Many were surprised we lost. Some argued that we have been complacent and arrogant. Of course, some believed that we made strategic mistakes.
There is no question that the campaign execution has plenty of room for improvement, and the team will certainly be carrying out our postmortem over the next few days to ensure that future campaigns can be even better.
However, we certainly never expected an easy campaign. The very fact that it took the party leadership “forever” to decide on the candidate was precisely because we knew that the risk of losing the seat was extremely high.
Regardless of the candidate, the Teluk Intan by-election was never going to be a walk in the park like Bukit Gelugor, where Barisan Nasional did not even have the courage to put up a fight.
Even before the candidate decision, the Party was well briefed by our grassroots that the word on the street was that many in the Chinese community will give their vote to Gerakan President, Mah Siew Keong. The argument was compelling. Read the rest of this entry »
Dyana wins our hearts
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 9:15 pm
– Amar Singh & Lim Swee Im
The Malaysian Insider
June 01, 2014
Dear Dyana Sofya,
You may have lost this small election but you have won the hearts of many, many Malaysians. Despite the ugly ways and attempts to shame or demonise you, we are pleased you did not sink down to the level of those who were shameless in their behaviour.
We know you are ethnically Malay, but throughout this campaign it was clear you are first a Malaysian and stand for all Malaysians. So we seldom think or see you as a Malay, but more as our fellow sister and Malaysian.
It is vital that all of us move away from any form of ethnic politics, ethnic decision-making, ethnic criteria in selection, etc., as this just divides us further. So we are delighted with your stand of inclusiveness.
We want to assure you that you did not lose but won many heart. Read the rest of this entry »
The cost of MH370 search efforts
Tom Burns
Aljazeera
30 May 2014
Why are countries spending millions of dollars in search of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane?
Two months and too many conspiracy theories ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing lost contact with air traffic control and prompted the largest air-sea search in history.
Satellite data provided investigators with two possible corridors along which the missing plane may have sent out its final communications. The northern corridor extended from northern Thailand across the Asian continent to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan while the southern corridor stretched from the western islands of Indonesia to the remote southern Indian Ocean.
Developments in the search lead to a specific focus on the southern corridor, particularly areas of the southern Indian Ocean, about 2,000 kilometres west of the Australian coastal city of Perth.
Throughout the search, families of the 239 people aboard have endured a rollercoaster of emotions as lead after lead has failed to confirm the exact location of the aircraft and the nature of its likely demise.
It was to these families that officials from Malaysia, China, and Australia, pledged in early May that they would not give up the search. Read the rest of this entry »
Lose the battle, win the war in Teluk Intan
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 7:49 pm
– Raymond Lim
The Malaysian Insider
June 01, 2014
This phrase was written in one of the most popular war strategy book used by global top management schools for business strategies classes and it is called “The Art of War” by General Sun Tzu in 600BC. Yes, Dyana lose in the battle but the result and experiences will definitely be crucial in moulding future political strategies particularly in the next GE14, the war. Why is this so?
To me, the final result should be more devastating to Mah/BN even though Dyana/Pakatan had lost. For Dyana, a non-resident and a political novice to have such close fight (losing only 238 votes compare with a political heavyweight, the number one from Gerakan, born and was well known in Teluk Intan) also reinforces BN’s initial fear that there is now an undercurrent of fast changing political scenario that will not be easily controllable by any political parties in the next GE.
Yes, the Chinese may still support the Chinese or the Malay may still support the Malay and so forth. But, for this young Malay lady, who was given the opportunity to stand with a party such as the well-known Chinese chauvinist-dominated party, DAP, it had without doubt help to open up an era of endless possibilities for those progressive modern Malay who are fearless in their pursuit of what Malaysia should be. Read the rest of this entry »
The rise of Pakatan’s third-liners
Posted by Kit in Dyana Sofya, Pakatan Rakyat, Telok Intan by-e on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 6:58 pm
by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
June 01, 2014
Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud did not win the Teluk Intan by-election last night but she still followed in the footsteps of her party’s elders while at the same time breaking from some of its traditions.
Like her boss, Lim Kit Siang, Dyana Sofya is making her first attempt at elected office in her mid-20s. Lim who is now 73, was 28 when he was first elected in 1969 for the parliamentary seat of Bandar Melaka.
Unlike Lim and many of the DAP’s leading lights such as Lim Guan Eng, Anthony Loke and Liew Chin Thong, Dyana Sofya is not from the Chinese working and middle classes that the party draws its support and members from.
The former UiTM law graduate represents a growing number of Malay-Muslim youths who are joining the DAP and who are making up an important third-line of members and leaders that are different from their elders.
But they and the DAP are not alone. Across Pakatan Rakyat (PR), a new generation of youth are forming a crucial third vanguard in PAS and PKR as their parties’ second-line move into more senior positions. Read the rest of this entry »
Dyana Sofya tewas di Teluk Intan, tetapi DAP menang
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Elections, Telok Intan by-e on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 6:44 pm
Amin Iskandar
The Malaysian Insider
June 01, 2014
Kekalahan Dyana Sofya dalam Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) Teluk Intan kepada Presiden Gerakan, Datuk Mah Siew Keong dengan majoriti tipis 238 undi membuktikan ramalan Ketua Parlimen DAP, Lim Kit Siang minggu lalu ada benarnya.
Lim sebelum ini menghantar mesej kecemasan (SOS) kepada semua pengundi luar PRK Teluk Intan agar pulang bagi membantu kemenangan setiausaha politiknya.
Lim juga menyeru agar pengguna Internet datang ke Teluk Intan membantu kempen Dyana Sofya sehingga menang.
Sebagai orang lama dalam politik, sudah tentu mudah bagi Lim untuk membaca sentimen di Teluk Intan.
Satu dua lawatan bertemu dengan rakyat Teluk Intan sudah cukup bagi Lim untuk mengetahui sama ada DAP mendapat sokongan atau tidak. Read the rest of this entry »
Teluk Intan and all that jazz
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, Education on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 6:29 pm
Azly Rahman
Malaysiakini
May 30, 2014
What is promised to our youth in this by-election that is pitching the old versus the young? What do we need to see radically changed in our society? Here are my thoughts, especially today.
I am very sad today, reading about rape cases involving minors – gang-rape, to be exact, of ten, twelve, thirty young kids destroying each other! Madness. No-nonsense parenting is key here, folks.
Just when I had finished writing this first draft for this column, I read about a two year-old girl taken away from a shopping mall and later found with her head severed and her body dumped near the Klang River. Madness.
Days earlier we read about the early morning robbery of two nuns in Seremban, of which one of them died of serious head injuries. Almost daily we still read about snatch thefts resulting in the victims injured. An endless cycle of violence we are living in. Madness.
Back to what is happening to our youth. Read the rest of this entry »
Dyana Sofya’s real victory: Unmasking political hypocrisy
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 6:06 pm
Zurairi AR
The Malay Mail Online
June 1, 2014
JUNE 1 — By the time you read this, the result for the Teluk Intan by-election is already known and to whoever won it, I only have this to say: “I told you so.”
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, it is at the final hours of campaigning. Two weeks of an exhilarating ride that a lot of us did not really expect.
Despite that, the Teluk Intan by-election must have been a horrible nightmare for conservative Malay-Muslims.
On one side is Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud. A seemingly “liberal” Malay woman who had joined, of all parties, the opposition DAP: usually seen as synonymous with anti-Malay and anti-Islam. Undeservingly so but that is another story.
On the other side, an infidelic non-Malay: Mah Siew Keong.
Whether Dyana did win or lose yesterday — or tomorrow for me — her biggest victory might have been this: unmasking political hypocrisy on both sides of the political divide. Read the rest of this entry »
If 400 outstation voters, or one per cent of the voter turn-out, had returned to Teluk Intan to vote, Dyana Sofya would today be the MP for Teluk Intan
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 5:16 pm
If 400 outstation voters, or one per cent of the 40,236 voter-turnout in the Teluk Intan by-election (66.7%) yesterday, had returned to Teluk Intan to vote, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud would today be the Member of Parliament for Teluk Intan.
Or if the Teluk Intan by-election polling had been held today, a Sunday, which would enable more outstation voters to make the journey back to Teluk Intan to vote, the result would have been very different.
But these are all water under the bridge.
We must learn from the lessons of the by-election and move on.
I congratulate Datuk Mah Siew Keong as the new MP for Teluk Intan. Read the rest of this entry »
Victory in defeat
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Sunday, 1 June 2014, 4:08 pm
– Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud
DAP candidate for Teluk Intan
So near, yet so far. It has been a whirlwind campaign over the last two weeks, and although we may not have achieved our ultimate goal of winning this by-election, I don’t think anyone can deny that we have given our all against the might of the entire Federal government machinery.
Despite the negative and malicious campaigning, the people of Teluk Intan have shown their strong support for the ideas, struggles and principles that my party and I stand for.
Nonetheless, I congratulate Dato’ Mah Siew Keong on his victory.
I believe that this result is a great achievement for me personally, as well as a progressive step forward for the party. In spite of the tremendous odds stacked against us, we managed to knock down barriers previously thought impossible, and that is the real victory. Read the rest of this entry »
13 theories of what happened to Flight MH370
Adam Withnall,The Independent | May 30, 2014
Officials on Thursday confirmed what we have feared for some time — that a relatively tiny search zone in the southern Indian Ocean is not the final resting place of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
From an underwater mission covering 850 sq km (320 sq mile) where acoustic “pings” were heard, the area being searched has now been extended to around a 60,000 sq km (23,100 sq mile) zone based on satellite data which remains disputed in some quarters.
The Australia-led search control team estimate it could be August — next year — before this region has been covered, and hopes of finding the Boeing 777’s flight recorders are becoming increasingly dim.
With so much uncertainty surrounding the circumstances of MH370’s bizarre disappearance, it has become rich territory for aviation experts, bloggers and conspiracy theorists alike.
Here we round up 13 of the most prominent theories as to where the plane ended up, and what went wrong in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »
Families of MH370 crew rap MAS union for ‘disowning’ them
by Muzliza Mustafa
The Malaysian Insider
May 30, 2014
Family members of crew on board flight MH370 have hit out at the Malaysia Airlines union for calling for another body to deal with efforts and issues regarding the missing jetliner.
Jacquita Gonzales, wife of inflight supervisor Patrick Francis Gomes who was one of the 12 crew on flight MH370, said she was disheartened by the statement made by the Malaysian Airlines System Employees Union (Maseu), a union representing 8,000 of MAS’s 13,500 employees.
“I was upset and I broke down when I read the article. The phrase where he said to put us aside and allow other entity to look after our interest just brought us back to March 8.”
Mohd Jabbarullah Abd Kadir, executive secretary of Maseu, yesterday in a statement said MAS had handled the flight MH370 tragedy in the “best” possible way, adding that the loss-making airlines needs to move forward to ensure it stays afloat.
He also reiterated call for several top management figures in MAS to resign “with dignity”, saying that the union feels that the company has to focus on restoring its image and fortunes.
But, Gonzales said that MAS’s rebuilding should not be at the expense of caring for its employees. Read the rest of this entry »
Teluk Intan’s diamond in the rough
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Telok Intan by-e on Saturday, 31 May 2014, 2:03 am
— Fui K. Soong
The Malay Mail Online
May 30, 2014
Driving through the main thoroughfare of Teluk Intan is hardly pleasant as traffic jams are seen as a curse of development in small towns. However, of late, this monotony is interspersed with sultry posters of Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, the DAP candidate. And you can’t help but wonder how the Opposition always gets to pick these yummy-looking princes and princesses of politics to parade their diamonds for them.
In contrast with the dreariness of the old establishment posters that almost always feature leaders lined up like pastry layers according to their seniority in the government or party — federal, state, candidate, or, party president, deputy president followed by the candidate. Sometimes, the size of the photo will indicate the said protocol is in accordance. No guesses who always gets the biggest photo on the posters!
While the BN candidate is always the last and smallest, nowhere in Dyana Sofya’s poster screams Lim Kit Siang or Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or Datuk Nik Aziz. Her posters literally say, I am my own woman. And that message alone is no doubt a real hit with the younger voters.
According to Centre for Strategic Engagement (CENSE) survey, 42.1 per cent of the respondents among Teluk Intan’s registered voters think she has the qualities of being a good MP and that she is politically ambitious. Although, another good 40 per cent don’t really know her but there are no abhorrence or maliciousness towards her either. Read the rest of this entry »
If Tunku was still alive, he’d curse everyone for the state of the nation, says Ku Li
Posted by Kit in Dyana Sofya, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak on Saturday, 31 May 2014, 1:22 am
by Looi Sue-Chern
The Malaysian Insider
May 30, 2014
If the country’s first prime minister was still alive today, he would curse everybody because of the lack of leadership that has led to the present state of the nation, a former finance minister said today.
Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, also known as Ku Li, said the late Tunku Abdul Rahman would have been very upset with what people are saying and doing as this was counter to everything he believed in.
“He would curse everybody. (What is happening) completely counters what he advocated. He wanted peace.
“He was a man of peace and he nurtured harmony and he liked people to help one another no matter what racial, religious or cultural backgrounds they have. That was Tunku,” Ku Li told reporters in Penang today. Read the rest of this entry »
Open letter to the people of Teluk Intan
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Elections, Telok Intan by-e on Friday, 30 May 2014, 4:11 pm
By Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud | MalayMailOnline
May 29, 2014
To the good people of Teluk Intan,
It has been an exhausting but exhilarating two weeks since I was nominated by my party to be the candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election. I have experienced more in the last two weeks than any time in my 27 years of age.
Suddenly, I became the centre of attention of UMNO Ministers who could not resist taking digs at my looks. Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan asked voters not to support me just because I put on “lipstick”. Datuk Zahid Hamidi remarked that I am “not so pretty in person”. Datuk Ahmad Maslan stressed that even his wife, or Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman’s, would win if it were a beauty contest.
My looks and appearance are not important at all in this very important by-election. I did not sign up with DAP to take part in beauty pageants. I call upon the voters of Teluk Intan to judge me for my ideals, my principles and my dreams for a better Malaysia. I want to win this election not because of my appearance, but because of my ability to make a difference in the Malaysian political landscape in the highest legislative institution of the country.
My opponents have attacked me viciously behind nameless blogs aligned to Barisan Nasional (BN), as well as anonymous leaflets denigrating me with fake pictures and spurious allegations of my moral ethics. During the visits to some evening markets, there were UMNO bullies who heckled, disrupted and attempted to block the campaign trail. Read the rest of this entry »
Vote for Mah? Uhmmm no!
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dyana Sofya, Elections, Telok Intan by-e on Friday, 30 May 2014, 4:04 pm
By Gayatri Unsworth | The Malaysian Insider
MAY 30, 2014
Just a little over a year ago, Malaysia stood quivering at the prospects of a new dawn. Millions thronged to the polling booths, to have their fingers stained with special ink that was about as ineffectual as Ridhuan Tee’s sense of logic.
Anyhow, this not-so-indelible ink, which we paid a fortune for by the way, because as a country we are so exceedingly wealthy that we can afford to spend gazillions on things which don’t really work such as non-sinking submarines and 1Malaysia campaigns, was only the first in a very long list of vexations to come out of last year’s general election.
Though a record number of Malaysians turned up to give the Election Commission the finger (I only meant for the applying of the ink of course) and to make our downtrodden voices audible, our collective despondency was no match for a system so skewed, that I’m really beginning to suspect that somewhere along the way, we simply got terribly confused and started mistakenly spelling D-E-M-O-C-R-A-C-Y for D-I-C-T-A-T-O-R-S-H-I-P.
And truth be told, that would be perfectly understandable, considering our stellar record as far as English language education goes. Read the rest of this entry »
