PAKATAN Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad will swing Malay votes in marginal seats to the opposition pact, said DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke.

Speaking at PH’s ceramah in Bentong late last night, Loke said DAP has always faced an uphill battle to reach out to rural Malays due to Umno’s campaign to demonise it as a Chinese-chauvinist party.

“We must win in marginal seats, like Bentong, Labis and Cameron Highlands, to increase our chances (of taking over the federal government),” Loke said to a group of several hundred people.

“For example, there are four state seats in Bentong. In 2013, DAP won three of the state seats but didn’t win Bentong.

“The other (state seat) is an Umno seat. We’ll bring (Dr) Mahathir there,” Loke said.

In the last general election, the Bentong parliamentary seat was retained by MCA chief Liow Tiong Lai, who defeated DAP’s Wong Tack with a paper-thin majority of only 379 votes.

Wong Tack is likely to be fielded again by DAP in the next polls.

DAP won the Bilut, Ketari and Sabai state seats in 2013, while Umno retained Pelangai, a rural seat held by Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob.

DAP has launched an offensive in MCA territory, namely Liow’s Bentong seat and MCA deputy president Dr Wee Ka Siong’s stronghold of Ayer Hitam in Johor. – January 29, 2018.