KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — In arguing the means to an end, the DAP’s Tony Pua likened the party’s defeat in the recently-ended Teluk Intan by-election to a stumble on the path to achieving its “Middle Malaysia” dream.

While conceding that its decision to field Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud may have been a “strategic misstep”, Pua, who was campaign director, insisted that the move was crucial to demonstrate the DAP’s willingness to take a gamble against stereotypes to create a future non-communal political landscape.

“The battle of Teluk Intan was a battle between the future represented by Dyana Sofya and the past represented by Mah Siew Keong.  Oh ye of little faith, the past may have won this round, but the future always win in the end,” he said in a statement.

Pua alluded to arguments that the DAP might have retained Teluk Intan if they had fielded an ethnic Chinese candidate instead of a Malay, who also bucked the current in other stereotypes — Dyana was a woman and a relative political greenhorn compared to Datuk Mah Siew Keong, a local-born two-term MP for the Chinese-majority Perak federal seat who is also president in a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party.

“Would a Chinese DAP candidate have won?  Maybe, maybe not,” he said, pointing out the party might have got more votes from the Chinese community if it caved in to stereotype but added that it would also likely have ceded more support from among the Malay community.

In the aftermath of the DAP’s loss, analysts observed the opposition party challenged a pattern of communal voting that has been ingrained for decades, and that the outcome of this gamble would likely only be seen much later, at the next general elections.

The second-term Petaling Jaya Utara MP appeared to share similar views, admitting that the objective of the Teluk Intan by-election was to create a shift in the country’s political landscape and to “blunt BN’s racial politics as an electoral weapon used to powerful effect”.

“Dyana’s candidature however, winning or losing, gives hope for change.  She is an investment in the future,” Pua said.

Using a golfing analogy, the federal lawmaker said the DAP had reached a performance plateau and needed to change its swing if it hoped to level up, adding that the loss was a temporary hiccup suffered while in the process of adjusting.

“But once we get the hang of the new improvised swing, we will be better equipped to beat our opponents,” Pua said.