KUCHING, Dec 19 — Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak must learn from its mistakes in this election setback instead of being deterred from the dream of making Malaysia great again, said DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said he had campaigned in the 12th Sarawak Election, and hoped that DAP would win half-a-dozen seats.

DAP contested in 26 state seats this poll, but only managed to win just two seats — Padungan and Pending.

It failed to retain Kota Sentosa, Pelawan, Bukit Assek and Tanjong Batu.

"I congratulate (Gabungan Parti Sarawak chairman Tan Sri) Abang Johari Openg for the stunning victory in the Sarawak state election. DAP accepts the verdict of the people of Sarawak,” Kit Siang said in a statement today.

However, he opined that DAP would have won another five seats if not for the low voter turnout and the split in opposition votes due to multi-cornered fights in most constituencies.

He named the five seats as Pujut, Pelawan, Bukit Assek, Tanjong Batu and Kota Sentosa.

"In Tanjong Batu, we lost by 23 votes. In Pelawan, we lost by 100 votes, and in Bukit Assek we lost by 874 votes.

"There are many significant aspects of the 2021 Sarawak election — one of which is that the candidates which advocate Independence for Sarawak did very badly, with one party losing deposits in 64 seats and another party losing deposits in 12 seats. Nine Independents also lost deposits,” he pointed out.

Kit Siang said this showed that call for independence for Sarawak did not have much support and would not be welcomed by the Malay/Melanau community and was not easily supported by the Dayak community.

"If it ends up being the stand of a small section of the Chinese community, it could create a very dangerous situation,” he added.

He said that this state election should have seen a punishment of GPS for causing Sarawakians to lose their state’s rights for half-a-century, but this was not the case.

Instead, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) parties were punished for failing to fulfil election pledges in 22 months when they had a mandate for five years, he said.

"On January 1 next year, a new political scenario will emerge when those between 18 and 21 years not only can vote, but can stand as candidates for parliamentary and state elections. They can become ministers in Malaysia,” he pointed out.

On this note, he called on Malaysian youths of this age group to come forward to lead Malaysia to become a world-class great nation. — Borneo Post