Despite suffering a crushing defeat in yesterday's Batu Talam by-election, 22-year-old independent candidate Ng Chee Pang and his supporters still had a reason to pop the champagne.

According to his father Kwi Ling, who doubled as the campaign manager, the result was still a victory of sorts.

"According to media reports, the government announced development projects for Batu Talam amounting to RM475 million because of the by-election.

"Although we lost RM5,000 (the deposit), we gained close to RM500 million. This means RM1,000 of my son's deposit equals to about RM100 million. This is very profitable indeed," he said when contacted today.

Kwi Ling said they held a small party to 'celebrate the victory' with champagne. This was attended by some 20 people comprising family and friends.

Chee Pang, who garnered 419 votes, was defeated by Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Abdul Aziz Kiram by a majority of 5,857 votes.

'Dirty tactics'

Kwi Ling, a former DAP Pahang heavyweight, said his son was not disappointed with the result.

On the contrary, he added, Chee Pang was glad to have delivered 'the gifts' (development projects) to the people of Batu Talam.

"We expected it (the defeat) because our rivals resorted to dirty tactics," he claimed. "My son has not lost confidence because of this."

Kwi Ling was referring to the circulation of leaflets portraying Chee Pang as a DAP supporter and opponent of the 'Islam Hadhari state'.

He said the leaflets gave rise to negative sentiments among the Malays, who are the majority of voters in the constituency.

As for their future plans, Kwi Ling said his son is keen on contesting in the next general election but has not decided where.

"It is unlikely he will contest in Pahang because the people here (in the state) tend to support BN. Perhaps, he will target seats in Negeri Sembilan or Kuala Lumpur," he added.

On their complaint that the BN candidate had allegedly misused government machinery for his campaign, he remained hopeful that the authorities would act on it.