Barisan Nasional's (BN) component party leaders who hailed the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election victory as a good win, however, claimed their respective parties had a lot to do in order to win the hearts and minds of the people.

BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said although the ruling coalition won the seat with a 1,725-vote majority, it has to improve support from the Chinese community, which turned its back on the BN not only during this by-election but also at the 2008 general election.

"We have to see where we are going wrong. I will meet other component parties to discuss this matter but we are glad that the Indian votes are coming back. The Malays too have backed the BN.

"We lost this seat at the 2008 general election with a slim 198 vote majority and have now retained it with a bigger majority. This shows that the people are receptive to the leadership's concept like 1Malaysia and the new economic model," he said after the results of the by-election were announced at Kuala Kubu Bharu multipurpose hall last night.

MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek, who was also present, said MCA needed a paradigm shift in its approach towards the Chinese community as the community was not very concerned with basic needs and amenities.

"This paradigm shift must come from MCA leaders. Apart from that Hulu Selangor also has got its own internal problems. For me and other party leaders, there is a lot of work to do.

"This is another wake-up call. If they do not know how to put aside their differences then MCA would become a political dustbin or a political dinosaur.

"We have to re-look at ourselves, whether after 50 years concentrating at local community level, we have to look for more. You can be assured that we would be more vocal," he said.

Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon said while BN won, there were various issues that needed to be addressed and solved.

"The support among the Chinese still has not improved. When we started to campaign here, the level of support was just about 12 to 15 percent. After the prime minister (Najib Abdul Razak) went to the ground it improved to about 25 percent," he said.

MIC president S Samy Vellu, who was also present during the announcement said the party would need to double its effort to win back the Indian community totally.

"Yes we have made headway in winning the Indian votes in this election as we received about 65 percent. It used to be 80 percent prior to 2008. We need to achieve that target," he added.

His deputy G Palanivel, who was former Hulu Selangor MP before his loss in the 2008 polls, said while the win was a good motivational boost for the BN, it needs to re-evaluate and remedy its weakness.

"The win is a good one. We have a better majority but there are some weaknesses that needs to be tinkered with," he added.

He said the party would perform a post-mortem and continue to push hard to woo Indian voters, using various strategies.

Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil deemed the victory as a win for the prime minister and the people of Malaysia who prefer stability, peace and harmony.

"Wanita Umno had carried out duties with commitment, discipline and dedication to ensure victory. Now we must fulfill our promises," she said.

- Bernama