DAP to focus on winning over voters, not other parties, says Loke

Loke Siew Fook (right) accompanying PH candidate Pang Sock Tao to the nomination centre in Hulu Selangor. With them are Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (in dark blue). (Bernama pic)

HULU SELANGOR: DAP’s focus in the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election is to win over the hearts of voters, not to persuade any other party to back its campaign.

DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said his party has never coerced any other party into assisting in its campaign.

“Elections are not about parties; they are about the people. So, for me, the most important thing is to win over the voters, not any particular party,” he said after accompanying Pakatan Harapan’s candidate, Pang Sock Tao, to the nomination centre in Hulu Selangor.

Loke was asked whether DAP would be persuading MCA, a Barisan Nasional component party, to support its campaign.

MCA president Wee Ka Siong had earlier reiterated his party’s stand to not help DAP campaign in the upcoming polls.

Loke, however, expressed his gratitude to BN leaders, including its chairman, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, for showing up at the nomination centre this morning.

This shows that BN, as a coalition partner in the unity government, has no issues with cooperating with one another, he said.

“We won’t force those who refuse to help us. If they are unwilling to assist, then that’s their prerogative,” he said.

The Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election on May 11 will see a four-cornered fight among PH, Perikatan Nasional, Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) and an independent candidate.

Pang will face PN’s Hulu Selangor Bersatu acting chief Khairul Azhari Saut, PRM’s Hafizah Zainudin and independent candidate Nyau Ke Xin.

The seat fell vacant following the death of three-term DAP assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong on March 21 from cancer.