Malaysiakini
May 27, 2014
COMMENT She is no mummy’s girl.
But, as the daughter of Yammy Samat, an Umno loyalist, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud who is contesting a by-election in the northern state of Malaysia is a roaring tiger.
Although soft-spoken, Dyana is the kind of ‘no holds barred’ young woman who would challenge Umno, which has been the backbone of the ruling party since 1951.
As a Malay candidate for the predominantly Chinese DAP, where 41.9 percent of its voters are Chinese, Dyana has a tough battle ahead to woo voters in Teluk Intan, dominated by three major ethnic communities – with a total of 25,310 Chinese, 23,301 Malays and 11,468 Indian voters.
Traditionally, a seat held by Gerakan, from the ruling BN, her DAP predecessor, Seah Leong Peng, was able to win the seat in last year’s general election with a majority of 7,000. Seah’s unexpected departure on May 1 due to cancer left the seat vacant.
Dyana is up against the 53-year-old Mah Siew Keong, who is both Gerakan party president and a two-term MP for the constituency, before losing to DAP’s M Manogaran in 2008. Continue reading “Will ‘David’ beat ‘Goliath’ in Teluk Intan?”