KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang was among the first Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders to congratulate the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Ramli Mohd Nor on winning the Cameron Highlands by-election.

The Iskandar Puteri MP kept it brief but to the point, in possibly one of his shortest statements ever.

"I congratulate Ramli Mohd Nor on being the first Orang Asli to be elected Member of Parliament in Malaysia,” Lim said.

Pensioned policeman Ramli, 61, is from the Semai tribe.

He won 12, 078 votes, besting PH candidate, lawyer M. Manogaran by 3,238 votes, and kept the Pahang parliamentary seat firmly within BN’s grasp since it was first created in 2003.

* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.