Chong, who stood for re-election in Kota Sentosa, said last night: “I won the seat, but DAP Sarawak had lost the battle. We accept the defeat”

The party fielded candidates in 31 seats, venturing out of its mainly-Chinese urban strongholds, but only seven of its candidates were elected, for a loss of five seats from the previous election.

In a note of appreciation to his supporters, Chong promised to continue fighting in the state assembly for a better check and balance on government policies and actions.

When asked if infighting between the DAP and its opposition ally PKR had led to the party’s defeat, Chong said that a post-mortem would be conducted later. Chong attributed the loss to the low voter turnout at the elections.

“We must learn a lesson from the defeat, and come up with new directions on how to break the rural barrier,” Chong said, noting that rural politics in Sarawak was not easy. “We just have to take it and pick up the pieces and get our act together,” he said.