TELUK INTAN An Umno leader has decoded a signal DAP is sending to its Pakatan Rakyat ally PAS with its decision to field a Malay candidate in the Teluk Intan by-election.

Supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi believes that apart from being a jibe aimed at PAS, it is also to show the Islamist party that DAP is capable of garnering Malay support without its help.

"They want to prove to PAS that they can pull in Malay support without help from PAS," Puad is as quoted as saying by Umno Online.

DAP is fielding a young lawyer, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, for the May 31 by-election and her race and looks have become the focal points of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Puad also claimed that Dyana's candidacy is to cover the tracks of DAP’s "racism" and its opposition towards the implementation of hudud as proposed by PAS.

He said DAP is aware that its opposition to hudud is a huge issue that could see the party lose support among Malay voters.

"So, to cover up the matter and to counter the negative perception over its tiff with PAS on the implementation of hudud, DAP conjures the trick of fielding a Malay candidate.

"DAP knows that if it fields a non-Malay candidate, it will not get the support of Malay voters because of its strong rejection to hudud," he added.

Dyana, the Umno leader said, was bait to prove that DAP is supposedly not racist and open to all races.

However, he reminded Malay voters that despite her ethnic background, Dyana also upholds the party’s struggle for racial equality under its Malaysian Malaysia agenda.

Dyana, whose mother is an Umno member, faces Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong in the battle for the Parliament seat.

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