graveyard of politics

The coalitionwas also stung with the defeat of MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu in Sungai Siput and PPP president Datuk M. Kayveas in Taiping.

Samy Vellu lost to Dr D. Jeyakumar, who contested under the Parti Keadilan Rakyat banner, by more than 1,800 votes, while Kayveas was defeated by the DAP’s Nga Kor Ming with a 11,298 vote majority.

With the exception of Umno, the majority of MCA, MIC, PPP and Gerakan candidates were also beaten by DAP candidates.

The BN failed to wrest the Ipoh Barat parliamentary seat and lost several state seats to the opposition.
In the 2004 general election, the coalition lost the Ipoh Barat, Ipoh Timor and, Batu Gajah parliamentary seats, and the Pasir Pinji, Jelapang, Menglembu, Pantai Remis, Keranji and Sitiawan state seats to the DAP.

At press time, MCA candidates were said to be hard hit in several urban Chinese-dominated seats and lost the Kepayang, Bercham, Buntong, Tebing Tinggi and Pasir Pinji state seats to the DAP.

The Pokok Assam state seat is also said to have been lost. The MCA won four parliamentary and 10 state seats in 2004.

For Gerakan, its biggest single casualty was state chairman Datuk Chang Ko Youn’s defeat by DAP candidate Ngeh Koo Ham in Beruas with a majority of about 1,500 votes.

The party’s Youth chief Datuk Mah Siew Keong was also reported to have been defeated in the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat by another DAP candidate, M. Manogaran.

As expected, the MIC candidate for Pasir Panjang, Datuk Dr S. Vasan, lost to Pas candidate Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin. For the Sungkai state seat, MIC vice-president Datuk S. Veerasingam lost to N. Sivanesan of DAP by 1,454 votes.

MCA secretary-general Datuk Ong Ka Chuan won in Tanjung Malim by a 5,422-vote majority against Mohamad Azman Marjohan of PKR.

It appears the DAP has strengthened its position in Perak from the previous three parliamentary and seven state seats to a minimum of six and 12 respectively.

As for Umno, the feeling on the ground is that the majority of its candidates will make it despite much-reduced majorities.

In 2004, Umno won in all 34 state seats it contested while the BN won 52 of the 59 state seats and 21 of the 24 parliamentary seats.

The state BN needs to win 39 state seats to form a two-thirds majority and 30 state seats for a simple majority.