This comes after a social media post, which went viral, claimed that the chief minister was quoted by a Chinese news outlet as saying Umno was the reason why PKR’s Joohari Ariffin lost the race for the Penang state seat.

In a brief Facebook post, the administrator of Chow’s page said the Penang DAP chief had never made such a statement.

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

There was a significant drop 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.

Mustapha Yaakub, the secretary of the Umno veterans’ club, had questioned the failure to persuade Chinese voters to come out to vote, saying he 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, he claimed.

According to PN’s internal data, about 70% of the 22,815 Malay Sungai Bakap voters came out to cast their ballots, with about 12,776 Malay votes swinging in PN’s favour.