Melakan brader in the papers

DAP's got a 'lion' on its side

That 'lion' is not me.




Taken from http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/National/2152440/Article

MALACCA: The state DAP will unleash its secret weapon -- a lion dance troupe -- today in an attempt to lure votes from the Chinese community for the coming general election. The troupe will perform throughout the state, in particular within Chinese-majority areas, during the Chinese New Year period.

State DAP chairman Goh Leong San said the troupe would go house to house, as well as commercial areas.

"At the moment, 80 per cent of our machinery has been activated and mobilised," he said when met here yesterday.

Goh is the Bandar Hilir state assemblyman, one of the two state seats held by DAP for almost 40 years. The other seat is Kota Laksamana, held by Betty Chew Gek Cheng since 1999.
There are six parliamentary and 28 state seats in Malacca.

"We will put our candidates in two parliamentary seats and six state seats for the coming general election.

"We have submitted the list of candidates to the party headquarters and they will decide on the candidates.

"There are new candidates who are lawyers, engineers and businessmen," he said.

DAP is aiming to retain Bandar Hilir and Kota Laksamana, as well as trying to wrest Bachang, Kesidang, Duyong, Ayer Keroh and Telok Mas state seats. It is also working hard to reclaim its former stronghold of Kota Melaka parliamentary seat.

Among the new faces, mainly professionals, are Damian Yeo Shen Li, Lai Chuin Ping and Koo Wei Han and Chua See Mua.

Former Kota Melaka MP, Lim Guan Eng, also DAP secretary-general, is also tipped to be the candidate who would try to recapture the seat.

Despite speculations that Lim would be contesting in Penang, some state DAP leaders preferred him to contest in Kota Melaka, the party stronghold that fell into Barisan Nasional's hands in the last general election.

Former DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock lost to BN's Wong Chai Nee by a slim 219 votes in 2004.