KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — With more people dubbing the Teluk Intan poll a contest between looks and age, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin reminded voters today that the by-election is not a beauty pageant.

Instead, the minister reportedly said voters should choose a leader with experience who could serve the constituency well, instead of judging the candidate by his or her physical appearance.

“Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election not a beauty pageant, credibility of candidates is more important,” Khairy retweeted his comment, which was posted on Twitter earlier today by English daily New Straits Times.

Khairy was referring to the attention given to Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, the attractive young lawyer who is DAP’s pick for the May 31 poll.

The DAP and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders have championed Dyana’s credentials as a young and principled professional, but the 26-year-old former political aide to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has been hogging the spotlight largely because of her good looks.

At PR’s first rally for the by-election last night, some in attendance even admitted they only turned up to catch a glimpse of Dyana.

When she arrived to the stage, the young politician was greeted with hoots and wolf-whistles from a crowd made up of predominantly Malay men.

Cries of “alahai comelnya” (oh my, how cute), “saya sokong” (I support), and “confirm undi” (my vote is confirmed) followed her as she took her seat under a tent among other PR leaders.

As if on cue, dozens of young men mobbed the tent with their smartphones and tablets, jostling to snap photographs of Dyana, who donned a pink baju kurung with an accompanying with a lavender headscarf.

But Khairy, according to a posting on Twitter by MIC Youth chief C. Sivarraajh, said today that, “This is an election, not a beauty pageant; vote for an experienced leader who can serve.”

In response, social activist Datuk S. Ambige Sreenavasan took offence to the remark and said the reference to “beauty pageant” was sexist.

On her Twitter page later, Ambiga asked Khairy to explain his comment.

“@Khairykj YB could you explain your reference to beauty pageant in relation to Dyana. Don’t you think this is sexist?” she asked.

In reply, Khairy said: “@Ambiga_S No, it’s not. In fact this obsession re looks is also unfair on her. Judge them by their ideas & policy platform.”

Ambiga agreed with the Rembau MP later, saying both candidates in the poll should be judged on merit.

Dyana is facing Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong for the poll. The latter is a former two-term MP and former deputy minister.

The Teluk Intan by-election, which is scheduled on May 31, was triggered after DAP MP Seah Leong Peng recently died from cancer.

In the May 5 general election last year, Seah defeated Mah with a 7,313-vote majority.

The voter base in Teluk Intan is 42 per cent Chinese, 38 per cent Malay and 19 per cent Indian, making a total of 60,349 registered voters.