KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — DAP’s Lim Guan Eng mocked Umno for purportedly boycotting the Port Dickson by-election, suggesting the rival party lacked the fortitude to put up a fight in the face of near-certain defeat.

The DAP secretary-general insisted that political parties should not accept defeat even when face with overwhelming odds, in remarks from an interview with the Malaysiakini news portal.

“As a politician, sometimes you fight even though you know you will not make it, but it is the struggle, the striving in itself.

“Because if you don't fight just because you think you will lose then DAP would have given up many years ago. We lost so badly so many times but we never gave up,” he was quoted as saying.

Umno’s decision to purportedly snub the poll showed it was fighting only for leaders’ glory and gain rather than the party’s values or principles.

Citing former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, Lim said it was often necessary to walk into a fight knowing full well that one is about to take a beating.

“Sometimes, even if you lose, the fact that you contested (helps) you build up the base,” he said, but added the view that Umno no longer has a support base to convince.

Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced his party’s decision to boycott the Port Dickson by-election to protest PKR’s move to force the vacancy for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He said this was a clear waste of public funds at a time the government was claiming it was facing financial difficulties.

Former admiral Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah resigned on September 12 to force a by-election for Anwar to contest.

Aside from Anwar, only independent Stevie Chan has declared his intention to run in the October 13 by-election.