DAP masking internal problems with Dyana’s nomination in Teluk Intan, says MCA

KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — DAP’s move to nominate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud for the Teluk Intan by-election is nothing but a gambit to mask its internal problems, according to rival party, MCA.

MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said DAP is struggling with internal factions, forcing veteran politician Lim Kit Siang into calling the shots.

“All this is just a drama to resolve the issues within their party because so many are eyeing for the seat but in the end Lim Kit Siang used his muscle to resolve the tiff,” Liow told reporters at the Bandar Tun Razak MCA division opening.

In a bid to shed its image as a predominantly-Chinese party, DAP has picked Dyana, as its candidate for the by-election in Teluk Intan, a Chinese-majority constituency.

Dyana Sofya, the 26 year old political secretary to Lim Kit Siang, will go against BN’s Datuk Mah Siew Keong, the president of Gerakan who is twice her age, in the May 31 by-election.

The MCA president did not, however, pinpoint the problems faced by the Pakatan Rakyat party.

Liow added that Mah has an advantage being a BN component party president, which will enable the latter to tap into federal resources to boost economic and infrastructure development in the semi-rural constituency.

“The people of Teluk Intan should not be caught by this ruse...  what they need is a responsible leader who can bring them development and services,” said Liow.

Mah was Teluk Intan MP for two terms before he lost to the DAP in the 2008 and 2013 general elections, when the ruling BN coalition lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The Teluk Intan by-election, which is scheduled on May 31, was triggered after DAP’s Seah Leong Peng died from cancer on May 1.

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

According to the latest electoral roll, Teluk Intan has 60,349 voters made up of 23,301 Malays, 25,310 Chinese and 11,468 Indians.

Separately, Liow sidestepped Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recent statement that liberalism and human rights are threat to Islam.

“I think we have to go back to the foundations of this nation. Our forefathers are very farsighted and build us a very good constitution... it protects the right of every citizen in this nation,” he said.