Opposition wins Sibu by-election

THE DAP last night won the Sibu parliamentary by-election when its candidate Wong Ho Leng won the three-cornered contest with a 398-majority vote.

Wong, who is also Bukit Assek state assemblyman, garnered 18,845 votes against Barisan National (BN)'s Robert Lau Hui Yew, who obtained 18,447 votes while independent Narawi Haron only received 232 votes.

It was the culmination of an intense one-week campaign, which saw top leaders from both camps, including Prime Minister Najib Razak and DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang, traversing the length and breadth of the constituency.The by-election was called following the death of five-time MP and Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew on April 9.

"It is too early to say that the opposition can win Sarawak and (neighbouring) Sabah (states), but this election has opened up the possibility of national power for them," said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert at Singapore Management University.

The by-election election saw millions of dollars of spending promises from Prime Minister Najib Razak as the government fought to hold a seat in a state that provides almost a quarter of its MPs and where local polls are due this year.

The vote was a referendum on powerful Sarawak state Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud who has been in power since 1981. Mahmud, whose business interests dominate the state, will probably be forced from office, political analysts said.

Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah state gave the government 54 of its 137 parliamentary seats in the 2008 general election.

They provided a bulwark against opposition gains in mainland Malaysia in national and state polls in 2008 when the Barisan National lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority and control of five of Malaysia's 13 states in its worst ever election results.Agencies