DAP admits that voters confused with Amanah

The DAP concedes that it is facing a major challenge in campaigning for Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) because there are still Chinese voters who are confused that the party is contesting in the Sungai Besar Parliamentary by-election.

Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said a handful of the Chinese community in the constituency said they were confused about the Amanah symbol because they were used to seeing the 'rocket' symbol of the DAP.

The Pakatan Harapan campaign which appears to concentrate on introducing party Amanah and its candidate, Azhar Abdul Shukur, to the local Chinese community, clearly was a DAP strategy to defend the Chinese votes.

"We come to campaign for votes among the local residents. The response is very encouraging but there is a slight confusion on the symbol.

"This is because they (Chinese supporters) are familiar with the 'rocket' but the 'rocket' is not contesting. We have to introduce Amanah (symbol) where YB (Assemblyman) Ng Suee Lim had likened the 'adidas' symbol or the 'triangle' (to support DAP)," he told reporters after making a friendly visit to the Bagan Sekinchan fishing village, here, on Sunday.

The by-election this time is the first for Amanah to field its candidate in an election in the peninsula since it was established on September 16, 2015.

Meanwhile, the Penang Chief Minister described the friendly gestures between PAS and UMNO lately as being capable of jeopardising the opposition pact.

Conceding his displeasure at the development, Lim said if PAS and UMNO were to merge, the existing government could have control over two-thirds of the Parliamentary seats.

"We observe that BN is now campaigning all out to win both the seats (Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar) because now they have 132 and with the additional two seats (if they win both by-elections) they will have 134.

"With PAS having 14 seats then they will have 148 seats. What does this mean? Having 148 seats give them 2/3 majority in Parliament and that's why they want to win both seats," he said.

The Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar Parliamentary by-elections are being held following the death of the incumbent MPs for both seats, namely, Tan Sri Noriah Kasnon and Datuk Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad who were killed in the helicopter crash in Sebuyau, Sarawak, on May 5.

Simultaneous by-elections for both parliamentary constituencies have been set for June 18 while early voting in set for June 14.