The secretary of the Umno veterans’ club, Mustapha Yaakub, said “something is not right”.

He said the club received information that DAP leaders had failed to approach the Chinese voters.

Some Chinese voters were not even aware that a by-election was being held, while some admitted that they refused to cast their ballots without a reason to vote.

These two factors proved that only 47% of the Chinese electorate had gone to the polls, Mustapha said.

“We do not wish to fault anyone, but something is not right,” he said in a statement.

FMT reported today that fewer than half the 8,642 Chinese voters in Sungai Bakap went to the polls on Saturday, according to data from Perikatan Nasional.

Mustapha said “something does not sit right” about the news that guests at a dinner attended by DAP’s Lim Lip Eng had applauded when he announced that Pakatan Harapan lost the by-election.

“There’s something that does not sit right. It must be remembered that DAP had been an ally of PKR for a long time,” he said.

He added that the outcome of yesterday’s by-election would have a “huge impact” on the impending by-election for the Kelantan state assembly seat of Nenggiri.

On Saturday, PN retained the Sungai Bakap seat by a majority of 4,267 votes. PN candidate Abidin Ismail of PAS secured 14,489 votes compared to the 10,222 votes obtained by his PH rival, Joohari Ariffin of PKR.

There was a significant reduction in voter turnout, especially among Chinese voters who were reportedly “not enthusiastic” about the by-election due to dissatisfaction with the government’s economic performance.