The party took Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar to task over BN's "lies and slander'.
KUCHING: Sarawak DAP today rebuked Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar’s claims that the opposition were ‘lying’ when they said their membership among the natives had increased.
State chairman Chong Chieng Jen said contrary to Wan Junaidi’s views, DAP was charting positive responses in its targeted areas.
Following its unprecedented success in the 2011 state polls, DAP had announced its plans to woo rural Dayak voters.
Earlier in August the party announced it was opening 21 branches in rural Sarawak.
Targeted constituencies were Bengoh, Tasik Biru, Kedup, Tarat, Balai Ringin, Simanggang, Engkilili, Bukit Saban, Pakan, Meluan, Ngemah, Katibas, Pelagus, Belaga, Kakus, Kemena, Marudi, Bekenu, Bukit Kota and Batu Danau.
Thus far DAP has already set up a few branches.
Said Chong: “Unlike BN, DAP has only the truth for Sarawakians, especially the rural folks in general.
“What we told them (the rural population) of our political arguments is based on facts and figures. We only tell the people the truth.
“They (BN and the government) have been hiding the truth, and had lied to the people.”
Chong said although convincing rural natives in Sarawak was tougher, there were positive responses to their politics of truth.
“In Sarawak, there is a vast number of people who are not yet exposed to the strategies and policies of DAP and Pakatan Rakyat especially the rural population.
“Those people still believe the lies spread by BN and its media.
“But we are gaining a foothold. DAP has garnered strong support from Sarawak bumiputeras. Wan Junaidi should stop spreading lies about DAP’s strategies and policies,” he told here in response to a Malay daily report which quoted Wan Junaidi deriding the party.
BN skepticism over DAP
Chong, who is Kota Sentosa state assemblyman and DAP national vice-chairman, also reproved a BN leader’s statement about the party’s foray into rural Sarawak.
In July, PBB supreme council member Abdul Karim Hamzah stated that DAP, despite its intended expansion into rural Sarawak, shied away from the Malay/Melanau majority areas and that it was a reflection of the party’s “apprehension or incapability to penetrate those areas.’
Karim also accused DAP of trying to split the Dayaks.
Kakus assemblyman John Sikie Tayai said in September DAP would not be able to establish a support base in rural Sarawak.
He assumed that efforts by the opposition to make inroads into rural Sarawak were merely ‘to test the water’ in those areas. - FMT
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