If DAP had helped and campaigned in Pantai Merdeka by-election, the 5,166-majority of Barisan Nasional in 1986 general elections would have been slashed to 1,000-1,500 votes

by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Monday, 26th March 1990:

If DAP had helped and campaigned in Pantai Merdeka by-election, the 5,166-majority of Barisan Nasional in 1986 general elections would have been slashed to 1,000-1,500 votes

DAP denies and rejects the allegations by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr.Mahathir Mohamed, that the DAP had co-operated and helped to campaign for PAS in the Pantai Merdeka by-election. If the DAP had helped and campaigned in the Pantai Merdeka by-election, the 5,166-najority of the Barisan

Nasional in the 1986 general elections would have been slashed to 1,000-1,500 votes.

This is acknowledged by the MCA-owned Chinese daily, Tong Bao, which said in a by-election post-mortem analysis in today’s issue that if PAS had received the support of the DAP, the by-election result in Pantai Merdeka by-election on Saturday could have been very different.

Nobody really expects PAS to win in the Pantai Merdeka by-election as it had been one of the UMNO strongholds in Kedah. The question was what majority could the Barisan Nasional candidate secure.
The most significant features in the Pantai Merdeka by-election result are:

(i) the drop in the Barisan Nasional vote by 1,074 votes from 11,458 to 10,384 votes and the increase in PAS vote by 683 votes frin 6,292 to 6,975 votes, although there has been an overall reduction of exactly 683 votes in the total turn-out as compared to the 1986 general elections; and

(ii )the drop in the majority of the Barisan Nasional from 5,166 in the last general elections to 3,409- a fall of 1,757 votes or 34 per cent.

PAS could not fully benefit from the loss of support experienced by Barisan Nasional. Despite all the big talk by the MCA and Gerakan leaders, the BN majority would have been slashed to between 1,000 to 1,500 votes if the DAP had helped and campaigned in the by-election.

Pas should learn from the Pantai Merdeka by-election result, and should realise that they would not get the support and votes of the Malaysian Chinese and Indians, if it is not prepared to take into account their strong objections to the establishment of an Islamic State.

All in all, the Pantai Merdeka by-election result is no cause for celebration for either Barisan Nasional or PAS.