Ex-VP Tunku Abdul Aziz says Dyana would leave DAP

(Bernama) – A former DAP vice-president said today he believed that Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, the DAP candidate who was defeated in Saturday’s Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election, would leave the DAP.

Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim said he was making the prediction based on his own experience and tenure in the party. He had joined DAP in August 2008 and resigned in May 2012.

He said he believed Dyana Sofya, 27, had joined the DAP believing that it was a multiracial party.

“If she has any sense at all that this is not a multiracial party, it’s up to her (to leave the party). She joined the DAP believing everything about the party,” he told Bernama.

Dyana Sofya lost by 238 votes to Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong, 53, of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in a straight fight for the Teluk Intan seat. The DAP had won the seat by more than 7,000 votes in the general election last year.

Asked whether Dyana Sofya’s journey in the DAP was similar to his, Tunku Abdul Aziz explained that he was invited to join the party not for a position or platform but to fight corruption.

“I was attracted to the idea of fighting corruption but not against the government like what they were doing. I joined for the sake of this country and the community,” he said.

In the DAP, Tunku Abdul Aziz was appointed a vice-president and, on May 31, 2009, he was made a senator representing Penang.

In May 2012, he announced his resignation from the party, saying he could not agree with the stand of the DAP on the Bersih 3.0 gathering that had demanded, among others, free and fair elections.