DAP gaining ground in Teluk Intan?
DAP must not be over-confident that the Chinese will overwhelmingly support them
Selena Tay, Free Malaysia Today
It is still too difficult to predict who will win the Teluk Intan by-election. No doubt there will be many undecided voters at this halfway point as polling is next week on Saturday, May 31. Therefore this race to the finish will surely go down the wire.
(This columnist will be going to ground zero to evaluate the situation this weekend.)
Below are excerpts from voters’ comments taken from this columnist’s friends who are on duty in Teluk Intan.
Pro-Gerakan (Mah Siew Keong) voters: “Let us give Mah a chance to bring some development to Teluk Intan. We must vote Mah so that he will not lose face because after all he is a local boy. Mah can do a lot for Teluk Intan because he will have funds from the federal government. There will also be good co-operation between Mah and the BN Perak state government”.
Pro-DAP (Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud) voters: “It is time we vote for a fresh face. Let us see what Dyana can do for Teluk Intan. We should leave old politics behind. We must vote for young candidates who are future leaders of the nation.”
According to this columnist’s friends, the increasing cost of living is the hot topic of the day.
The people of Teluk Intan do not rate national issues such as corruption in management that high on their list compared to the urban folks. Daily issues such as price hikes, jobs and bread and butter issues are more important.
One has to remember that Teluk Intan is a semi-rural/rural seat so the people here will only pay attention to issues that impact directly upon their daily lives.
A few voters are saying whoever wins in Teluk Intan will not change the status quo and therefore they may not vote after all. They give the excuse that Mah while being an experienced politician is a recycled candidate while Dyana Sofya is too young and inexperienced in politics.
Crowds at ceramah do not necessarily translate into votes so it is difficult to gauge how a candidate will fare on polling day based on the numbers of the ceramah crowds.
