GEORGE TOWN: Just a day after one of the most bitterly fought general elections in Malaysia, DAP leader Lim Guan Eng has fired a fresh salvo at Barisan Nasional, questioning the legitimacy of the coalition’s victory.
Speaking to newsmen at Wisma DAP here, he said Pakatan Rakyat, with the 3.9 million votes it got against BN’s 3.3 million, was the legitimate government for Malaysia.
He lamented that the number of seats Pakatan won did not reflect its popularity with voters.
“How can you win 51.4% of the votes and still not get the majority of the seats?” he said. “We got only seven extra parliament seats compared with 2008. It’s very disappointing.
In Penang, Pakatan won 30 of the 40 state seats and 66% of the votes, a rise from 63% in 2008.
Lim disagreed with observers who, using BN chief Najib Tun Razak’s words, have said the election result reflected a “Chinese tsunami”.
“Yes, we have strong Chinese support,” he said, “but the Chinese only make up of 24% of the Malaysian electorate and population.
“We won by 51.4%. So where did the rest come from? Of course, it came from legitimate Malaysians.
“This means we do have the support of the Malays, the Indians and the Bumiputera of Sabah and Sarawak.”
The Malay-majority parliament seats that Pakatan won include Kuala Terengganu (89% Malay), Dungun (96% Malay), Alor Setar (61% Malay), Lumut (51% Malay), Sepang (57% Malay) and Penampang (66% Sabah Bumiputera.
In state contests too, Pakatan won several Malay-majority seats, including Seberang Jaya in Penang, Tanjung Lumpur (Pahang), Parit Yaani (Johor) and Puteri Wangsa (Johor).
In Sabah, Pakatan won a number of Bumiputera-majority seats, including Matunggong, Kadamaian, Tamparuli, Inanam and Moyog.
Lim said it was BN’s racist politics that had cost it in popular votes.
Mocking Najib for implying that DAP did not win Malay votes because it was racist, he said: “When a Chinese BN candidate wins, it’s not racist politics, but when a Chinese Pakatan candidate wins, it’s racist.”
Lim will be sworn in as the Penang Chief Minister for a second term at the state governor’s residence at 11.30am tomorrow.
