Win ushers new era for Gerakan

TELUK INTAN: Barisan Nasional's (BN) victory in the parliamentary constituency's by-election last Saturday has ushered in a new era for its component party Gerakan by positioning itself as being relevant despite setbacks in the 13th general election (GE13).
BN's candidate Datuk Mah Siew Keong, who is Gerakan president, attributed the victory to the hard work and support from the ruling coalition's political machinery during the two-week intense campaign.
This was indeed a feat because Mah and BN had a slow start in the early stage of the by-election campaign.
There was only a small group of Gerakan members who acted as liaison officers which indicated reasons behind the sudden slew of ministers and Umno supreme council members who lent their weight during the later stages of the campaign.
His campaign started to pick up momentum when he was invited to community-based functions where he gave brief speeches to the constituents.
This was opposite to DAP's strategy when Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud was announced as the candidate by the party's adviser and Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang prior to the actual nomination date.
Dyana, together with Lim and other DAP members, were seen hitting their campaign trail in Teluk Intan town late in the evening.
This was when Lim voiced his concerns at a press conference the challenges the DAP would face by fielding a Malay face to the Chinese voters, who constitute 41.94 % of the total 60,349 electorate.
The neck-to-neck race could also be seen when both Mah and Dyana consistently started their days by visiting the wet markets, packed the meet-and-greet sessions as well as attending ceramah late into the night in an attempt to woo voters.
While Dyana, who was in the lead, pledged to tackle GST and problems associated with cost of living, Mah worked on the need for local infrastructure and development.
Both Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and PAS also consolidated their efforts by joining in the fray with Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim making an appearance in solidarity with DAP.
Notwithstanding the personal attacks against Dyana, the 27-year-old lawyer prevailed until the end when she signed off with a message on her Facebook page "I am here to stay".
Despite BN's slim majority win, both BN and DAP have laid the groundwork for the next battle ... the 14th general election.