Sarawak DAP apologizes to people, admits Pakatan government’s failings

Malaysia – The low attendance of Chinese voters in Sarawak’s urban constituencies, according to Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen, was the major reason for the party’s dismal performance in the 2014 state election.

He went on to say that this was due to their frustration with the former federal administration of Pakatan Harapan (PH).

At urban voting centers with a majority of Chinese voters, he added, turnout was in the range of 40 to 45 percent.

“The turnout percentage was in the range of 65 to 75 percent for polling stations where the bulk of voters were Bumiputera,” he stated after chairing a state DAP committee meeting.

According to Chong, Chinese people voted in excess of 65 percent in the 2018 general election.

“We embrace and appreciate the voters’ choice.  We realize that the poor attendance is attributable to the electorate’s overall dissatisfaction and disappointment in many of our constituencies,” he stated.

PH, he said, had failed to meet the people’s expectations during its 22 months in office.

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“As a result, we’d want to apologize to them for not being able to meet their expectations over the last 22 months,” said Chong, one of just two DAP candidates elected in the state election.

He said that the state DAP’s low performance was not due to a local party problem since the party has been operating for more than 40 years.

“To individuals who voted for DAP in 2018 to bring about a change of federal administration, but have opted not to support DAP in this state election because we did not live up to your expectations,” he stated while conveying his apologies.

He said that the state DAP would continue its political fight by respecting the government’s ideals of openness, accountability, good governance, and justice.

“As a responsible Opposition, we will continue to support what is right and oppose what is wrong by the administration of the day,” he added.

Apart from Chong, who was elected in Padungan, the other DAP candidate in the state election was Violet Yong, who was elected in Pending.

In addition, the party lost seats in Kota Sentosa, Bukit Assek, Pelawan, and Pujut.