State polls: DAP's Loke confirms will defend his Chennah seat in Negri

JELEBU: DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke will defend the Chennah seat in the Aug 12 state polls.

The Negri Sembilan DAP chief said his decision came after a survey showed that constituents were happy with his services.

"I have also decided to defend Chennah after looking at the current political scenario and local sentiments.

"The findings showed that some 70% of those surveyed wanted me to continue," he said when met here Saturday (July 15).

Loke said he received the highest support from the Chinese community with more than 90% saying they were happy with his work.

"What really motivated me most was that more than half the Malays surveyed had also indicated that they were happy with my performance," he said.

Loke, who is also Seremban MP, said this also showed that the party enjoyed support from all races.

"We (DAP peoples' representatives) have been serving sincerely and that is why we have managed to win support from the other races.

"This also goes to show that we do not only serve one particular race," he said.

Loke said over the past 10 years, he has been working hard to uplift the socio-economic wellbeing of his constituents.

"This is a rural area and we have many traditional and Orang Asli villages here.

"I have been in close touch with the communities where many work as rubber tappers and hope to continue helping them," he said, adding that among the help he had been giving them was free school bus services for students to get to secondary schools.

In the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018, Loke won the seat in a three-cornered fight with a 1,155 vote majority against Barisan Nasional and PAS candidates.

In 2013, he won it with a 1,058 vote majority in a straight fight against Barisan.

Based on the latest statistics, Malays make up the majority of voters in Chennah at 46.2%, followed by the Chinese (44.2%), others (7.4%) and Indians (2.1%).