The party is doing this by selecting young professionals as their point men in the rural areas.
Sarawak DAP has taken their first steps to penetrate the rural areas by appointing a Bidayuh professional as a special assistant to its secretary, Chong Chieng Jen.
Mordi Bimol, 26, is also being groomed to be a future electoral candidate.
But for now, he will be assisting Chong (right), the Kota Sentosa state assemblyperson and Bandar Kuching member of parliament, to serve the Tasik Biru state constituency.“He will be receiving complaints from the public at the Batu Tujuh bazaar service centre,” Chong said of Mordi, a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) graduate in aquatic resource science and management.
“Beside assisting me, he will also be assigned to set up a party branch in Tasik Biru, where he is from,” he added.
Chong said the branch would provide services to the people of Tasik Biru in Bau, about 100km from Kuching.
Chong said Mordi's appointment is in line with the DAP's five-year plan to expand to the rural areas.
He said he believes that the urban people also want the party to spread its influence to the rural areas as they want Pakatan Rakyat to set up a strong foothold there.
“It is our priority to take over the state government in the next state election after we failed to win more seats in the recent polls,” he said.
Chong said Mordi was appointed to be his special assistant because he fits into DAP's rural expansion programme.
He added that the party would appoint more special assistants in future, with Bengoh state constituency as the next target for DAP penetration.
Chong said DAP is also eyeing Opar, another Bidayuh-majority constituency, for the next election.
“I am still searching for the right and suitable candidates to be my special assistants for Bengoh and Opar,” he said.
He said he believes that there are many young and educated Bidayuh youths out there willing to join the DAP.
Grooming potential polls candidates
He said appointing young Bidayuhs as special assistants is part of the process of grooming potential election candidates.
Mordi, when asked by reporters, said he was not active in politics in his university student days, but followed DAP politics closely.
“The DAP gives young people like me a lot of enthusiasm about what we can do for the state and country,” he added, stating that he could have joined any of the BN parties, but he did not.
“My family also gave me their blessings to join the opposition,” he stressed.
Apart from Opar, Bengoh and Tasik Biru, DAP is also eyeing to contest Kedup, Balai Ringgin and Tarat, all in southern Sarawak, in the next state election.
Chong is entrusted by the State DAP committee to oversee the party's expansion in southern Sarawak. - FreeMalaysiakini
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