Botched campaign strategy failed DAP in Teluk Intan

A botched campaign strategy that focused more on urban areas in Teluk Intan was behind DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud's loss in the May 31 by-election, as the party failed to compensate for her political inexperience and unfamiliarity with voters, according to a new survey by the Merdeka Center.

The survey of 404 Teluk Intan voters over the weekend showed that Barisan Nasional (BN) reached out to almost all segment of voters while DAP and its allies reached out to more men in urban areas, and less women.

Dyana Sofya lost by 238 votes to BN's Datuk Mah Siew Keong, the Gerakan president who had served two terms as Teluk Intan MP before losing in 2008.



"Election results show voters cannot be taken for granted and would teach parties a lesson given the opportunity," Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian told The Malaysian Insider.
"The DAP still has a long way to endear itself to the Malay community but the slight rise in support shows that it is doing some things right," the respected pollster added.

In the survey commissioned by The Malaysian Insider, the Merdeka Center found that 13% of respondents voted for a different party compared with last year, with 29% of them saying they did so because they wanted to see more changes.

According to the survey, voters viewed development politics and the famous local candidate of BN as the key reasons for BN’s victory.

It discovered that 14.7% felt that the DAP lost due to Dyana Sofya's inexperience while 9.4% said it was because she was not a local and 11.7% believe that many young voters did not go back to vote in the by-election.

The survey also found that DAP also did not cover enough ground to explain its move to field a political novice, while BN campaigners were nearly twice as prolific in the online arena, and nearly blanketed the electorate in Teluk Intan.

Some 72% of the respondents surveyed from June 6 to June 8 said they received messages from the BN campaign team through their mobile phones or social media, as opposed to only 31% from the DAP.

"When trying a novel idea or approach or even a candidate, massive information campaign is needed to explain the rationale to voters; here the election communications outreach is critical. Online alone is not enough," Ibrahim added.

Meanwhile, 35% of voters said they had interacted with BN campaigners in Teluk Intan, while only 23% said they had encountered DAP’s campaigners.

The survey found that DAP was already handicapped by Mah’s familiarity among the people of Teluk Intan.

Nearly half (45%) of the survey respondents who voted BN last month said Mah, as opposed to BN, was the reason behind their choice.

The Gerakan president was born and raised in the constituency but Dyana Sofya was a virtual unknown before she was fielded; the young lawyer’s role in politics prior to the campaign had been as DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang’s aide.

Some 65% of the respondents who had voted for Dyana Sofya did so because of her party, rather than the candidate herself.

This was despite DAP touting Dyana Sofya as the face of “new politics”, saying if she won, she would represent youths and women in Parliament, and that her win would signal the end of racial politics.

But Mah won in spite of his party and coalition’s unpopularity in the constituency – garnering 20,157 votes against Dyana Sofya’s 19,919, despite analysts predicting DAP would retain the seat.

Being the federal government, BN and Mah were able to pledge government-backed development for Teluk Intan and 13.5% of the respondents said they believed BN won because it provided social welfare assistance.

Among Indian respondents, 27.9% said they believed BN boosted their campaign with goodies, financial aid or goods to voters.

BN leaders such as Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had promised free uniforms for Rela members in Teluk Intan, and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek had said free wireless Internet could become a reality, should Mah win the May 31 by-election.

Some 55% of respondents also felt BN spoke about issues that the people of Teluk Intan wanted to hear, as opposed to 33% who felt that way about the DAP.

The survey found that cost of living and local issues affecting the public motivated voters a great deal more than issues such as hudud or corruption scandals.

Dyana Sofya’s manifesto relied heavily on national issues such as the goods and services tax (GST), the rising cost of living and corruption.

She was noticeably silent on local issues affecting Teluk Intan voters, such as development and infrastructure issues, despite 65% of the electorate being involved in agriculture-based industry.

Mah had taken the opposite route, promising Teluk Intan a university, as well as pledging to turn it into an agro-based industry and tourism hub.

He evaded reporters’ questions on his position on national issues, and instead said he wished to focus on Teluk Intan’s needs.

In its ceramah around Teluk Intan, DAP had argued it was pointless to vote in a leader who would ultimately bow down to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s unpopular policies such as the GST.

But 26% of those polled said they were more concerned about who could bring development to Teluk Intan.

Dyana Sofya’s message of how she represented non-racial politics resonated the most with the Indian respondents (41%); only 14% of Malay and 17% of Chinese respondents cared for the issue.

The survey respondents were selected through random stratified sampling along the lines of ethnicity, gender, age and polling districts. They were polled by telephone.

Some 43% of the respondents were Chinese, 38% were Malay, and 19% Indian. Men and women were equally represented, and all were above 21 years of age.

The Teluk Intan seat has 23,301 Malay voters (38.6%), 25,310 Chinese voters (41.9%) and 11,468 Indian voters (19%). – June 12, 2014.

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