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Why is Dyana Sofya a threat to Umno?

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
May 20, 2014

It is just supposed to be a parliamentary by-election but the battle for Teluk Intan is now between Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and Umno, which appears to be rattled by her candidacy on a DAP ticket.

She has apparently struck fear in several Umno leaders, from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil – who have all castigated the political novice for not joining Umno.

Even Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali has thrown his soiled fingers into the fray, urging Gerakan to use a photograph of him together with the 27-year-old DAP candidate as campaign fodder.

But Gerakan has refused to use the photograph as part of the campaign by their president Datuk Mah Siew Keong, the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the May 31 by-election.

So why is Umno so afraid of the young UiTM law graduate, whose mother is an Umno member? Several reasons come to mind. Continue reading “Why is Dyana Sofya a threat to Umno?”

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She’s like Marina, mom turns tables on Dr M

Malaysiakini
May 20, 2014

Turning the tables on Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud’s mother puts the former premier’s Umno parenting skill under the microscope.

Peppered with liberal doses of sarcasm, Yammy Samat said her daughter turned out more like Mahathir’s daughter Marina, a social activist whose views often contradict that of her father’s.

“I tried teaching her to be like Mukhriz, but when she grew up she became like Marina,” she was quoted as saying by Astro Awani.

Mukriz, who is Mahathir’s son, is currently the Kedah menteri besar and state Umno liaison committee chairperson.

Furthermore, Yammy, a long-term Umno member, said that she has given her daughter the freedom to choose between right and wrong. Continue reading “She’s like Marina, mom turns tables on Dr M”

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29-year-old PKR exco, a UiTM graduate, launches impassioned defence of Dyana

by Himanshu Bhatt
fz.com
May 20, 2014

GEORGE TOWN (May 20): PKR’s Dr Afif Bahardin, who at 29 is the youngest state executive councillor in the country, launched a vigorous defence of aspiring lawmaker Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud today after she had been reportedly attacked by rival politicians from Umno for supposedly betraying Malays by joining DAP.

Speaking at the Penang state assembly, Afif in particular hit out at suggestions that Dyana, 27, had become such a betrayer as she graduated from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).

Like Dyana, Afif is also a graduate of UiTM, having obtained his medical degree there in 2009. He also won the Seberang Jaya seat last year when he was about the same age as Dyana is now in contesting the Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election.

“I am a product of UiTM… Youths like Dyana and I are from UiTM and we are active the way we are because we are fed up with Umno-Barisan Nasional,” he said. Continue reading “29-year-old PKR exco, a UiTM graduate, launches impassioned defence of Dyana”

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Weren’t you a newbie once, Khairy?

– Teo Nie Ching and R. Rajiv
The Malaysian Insider
May 20, 2014

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has described DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud as an inexperienced newbie in politics.

As a matter of fact, all of us are inexperienced newbies until we are given a chance to learn and to perform. Before he took his post as the Minister of Youth and Sports in 2013, Khairy too did not have any experience to serve as a minister. Does that mean our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had made a wrong decision to make him a cabinet minister?

It has been a year since Khairy assumed office on May 16, 2013. So our question to him is this: how would you rate your performance? Continue reading “Weren’t you a newbie once, Khairy?”

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SOS to netizens to help out in the Teluk Intan by-election as DAP candidate Dyana Sofya will win hands down in a social media or Internet poll, may be 85% to 15%, but faces defeat as the by-election will be decided by 60,000 Teluk Intan voters substantial numbers of whom are not connected to Internet

I have no doubt that if the Teluk Intan by-election on May 31 is decided by Malaysian netizens, the DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud would win hands down in the social media or Internet poll.

I would even put Dyana’s chances of winning in a poll on the social media or Internet as some 85% to 15%.

However, the Teluk Intan by-election on May 31 will not be decided by netizens in Malaysia but by the 60,000 Teluk Intan voters, a substantial percentage of whom are not netizens.

I said yesterday that the DAP is the underdog in the Teluk Intan by-election among all the three different racial groups, and I had rated the DAP’s chances yesterday as 40% to 60%. Continue reading “SOS to netizens to help out in the Teluk Intan by-election as DAP candidate Dyana Sofya will win hands down in a social media or Internet poll, may be 85% to 15%, but faces defeat as the by-election will be decided by 60,000 Teluk Intan voters substantial numbers of whom are not connected to Internet”

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Barisan rep calls Dyana Sofya ‘ungrateful’, causes uproar in Penang assembly

by Looi Sue-Chern
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 20, 2014

A Barisan Nasional (BN) MP today caused a stir in the Penang legislative assembly after she hit out at the DAP candidate for the Teluk Intan polls, saying that she was ungrateful to the services of the coalition.

Opposition leader Datuk Jahara Hamid (BN-Teluk Air Tawar), in echoing her Umno colleagues’ views on Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, said she was ungrateful to the Barisan Nasional as she is a product of its education system.

“We don’t have problems with young and beautiful women in politics. It is good as to have more women’s voices in Parliament.”

“The issue is the DAP candidate came from BN’s efforts as well. For example, she was a graduate of UiTM,” she said.

Jahara then described Dyana using the Malay idiom “kacang lupakan kulit” (forgeting where one comes from), while debating Penang governor Tun Dr Abdul Rahman Abbas’s address to the assembly yesterday. Continue reading “Barisan rep calls Dyana Sofya ‘ungrateful’, causes uproar in Penang assembly”

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The Malay DAP candidate for Teluk Intan is one of us, she’s Malaysian

– Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 19, 2014

What else can the mentally-challenged Umno stormtroopers say? Malays who join DAP are DAP’s lapdogs. That kind of statement cannot be answered by a negation such as, no I am not so. It would not be believed anyway. So, we won’t bother to dignify such stupidity.

I am very surprised that Umno and its adherents cannot understand one simple basic fact: people are free to choose political allegiance. Why is it hard and difficult for Umno to accept that some people just don’t want to be with and near Umno? Umno has to learn to accept that not every Malay wants to join Umno and not joining Umno is a perfectly rational choice. Those who don’t want to join Umno are beyond the judgmental standards of Umno. Accept this reality.

Semi-urban and urban Malays are likely not to vote Umno. We expect Umno to come out strong to help its ally Gerakan – its pet poodle. It will spend a lot on money to buy Malay votes to stop the Dap candidate, Dyana Daud. If Dyana Daud wins, she will be an icon among the younger Malay generation to signal that there is a more meaningful life without Umno. Continue reading “The Malay DAP candidate for Teluk Intan is one of us, she’s Malaysian”

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Dyana a new political phenomena

— A Kadir Jasin
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 20, 2014

MAY 20 — Although I am 9989.2 km away from home on my annual extraterritorial grandfather duty and will be missing the Bukit Gelugor and Telok Intan parliamentary by-elections, it is hard for me to escape Dyana Sofya craze.

When I woke up this morning, I saw five messages from a former Umno divisional secretary on my cellular telephone.

One reads: “Dyana is said to be the latest state of the art Samsung 5s (sic) while Mah is Nokia. Sigh!” Continue reading “Dyana a new political phenomena”

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UMNO/BN leadership supremely confident that DAP made a ‘fatal error’ in fielding Dyana as candidate – call on Teluk Intan voters of all races to prove UMNO/BN wrong

(Media Conference Statement in Teluk Intan on Monday, 19th May 2014)

Unlike the Bukit Gelugor by-election nomination a week ago, when the entire Barisan Nasional leadership and not just the MCA leaders, ran for cover for fear of getting a “drubbing” in the Bukit Gelugor by-election on May 25, there has been a show of force of the UMNO/Barisan Nasional leadership in the Teluk Intan by-election today with the Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO Deputy President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin leading the team.

Why the stark difference?

The reason is very obvious. The UMNO/BN leadership is supremely confident that DAP has made a “fatal error” in fielding Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and that the BN candidate, Datuk Mah Siew Keong, Gerakan President, is set to win the Teluk Intan by-election on May 31 – reasons why the Umno/BN leaders dare to show their faces as compared to the Bukit Gelugor by-election nomination last Monday.

In fact, the UMNO/BN leadership believes that they can deliver the DAP/Pakatan Rakyat a major blow in the Teluk Intan by-election, as they will be able to attack what they regard as the DAP’s “Achilles heel” among the Malays, Indian and Chinese voters in Teluk Intan.

In the 13GE last May, DAP secured the support of 25 per cent of the Malay electorate, who comprise 38% of the electorate. Continue reading “UMNO/BN leadership supremely confident that DAP made a ‘fatal error’ in fielding Dyana as candidate – call on Teluk Intan voters of all races to prove UMNO/BN wrong”

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With race-baiting, DAP’s chances in Teluk Intan just 40pc, Kit Siang says MAY 19, 2014

The Malay Mail Onine
19th May 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — DAP’s chance of retaining Teluk Intan has dwindled to as low as 40 per cent, Lim Kit Siang said today as he blamed race-baiting by Barisan Nasional (BN) for the likely dip in his party’s popularity.

He said BN believes the DAP has committed a “fatal error” by fielding a Malay candidate for the Chinese-majority seat and will use this to wrest the party’s non-Malay support.

“For these reasons, the DAP has a very uphill battle, and I will rate the DAP’s chances of winning Teluk Intan by-election as 40 per cent to 60 per cent,” Lim said in a statement here.

In a bid to boost its multiracial credentials, the DAP picked Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud as its candidate for Teluk Intan, a seat last held by the late parliamentarian Seah Leong Peng.

The strategy has not impressed many of Teluk Intan’s Chinese voters, who make up 42 per cent of the electorate. The Malays form 38 per cent, and the Indians 19 per cent of the 60,349-strong electorate. Continue reading “With race-baiting, DAP’s chances in Teluk Intan just 40pc, Kit Siang says MAY 19, 2014”

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Pengundi Teluk Intan perlu mengundi sebagai rakyat Malaysia, kata Kit Siang

The Malaysian Insider
MAY 19, 2014

Ketua Parlimen DAP, Lim Kit Siang berkata Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) Teluk Intan merupakan masa yang tepat bagi pengundi mula mengundi sebagai rakyat Malaysia dan bukannya berdasarkan kaum semata-mata.

Lim yang juga ahli Parlimen Gelang Patah menggesa pengundi di Teluk Intan menyelamatkan Malaysia dengan melakar sejarah dan mencipta keajaiban daripada cuba menyelamatkan parti komponen Barisan Nasional (BN), Gerakan.

“Saya menggesa pengundi Teluk Intan untuk melakar sejarah dan mencipta keajaiban buat kali kedua dalam dekad ini yang boleh membuka mata rakyat Malaysia untuk menyelamatkan negara ini daripada terus gagal dan berpecah belah.

“Ini merupakan cabaran yang perlu dihadapi Teluk Intan untuk bangkit dalam usaha meningkatkan undi demi masa depan negara,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan media hari ini.

Beliau berkata, berbeza dengan pencalonan PRK Bukit Gelugor minggu lalu apabila semua pemimpin BN cuba menutupi ketakutan berdepan kekalahan dengan tidak bertanding tetapi pada hari penamaan calon PRK Teluk Intan, dapat dilihat Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin sendiri yang mengetuai jentera pilihan raya. Continue reading “Pengundi Teluk Intan perlu mengundi sebagai rakyat Malaysia, kata Kit Siang”