The Barisan Nasional (BN) will honour the pledges it has made to the people of the Sibu parliamentary constituency, BN deputy chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

Muhyiddin, who is the deputy prime minister, said the BN government did not regard the defeat in yesterday's by-election there as an end to the implementation of its policies.

"Everything which was announced by the prime minister (Najib Abdul Razak) and me and any other BN leader will be fulfilled.

"Some of the pledges have been fulfilled, whether they involve the Iban, Malay, Melanau, bumiputera or Chinese communities, and whether they are Muslims, Christians or of other religions. We do not differentiate.

"We will carry through our commitment. We do not see the by-election as an end (to the implementation of our policies)," he told reporters after chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Human Capital Development in Putrajaya.

The DAP captured the Sibu seat when its candidate, Wong Ho Leng, won a three-cornered fight with a 398-vote majority.

Wong, who is also Bukit Assek state assemblyperson, garnered 18,845 votes against Robert Lau Hui Yew of the BN, who obtained 18,447 votes, while independent Narawi Haron received 232 votes.  

Muhyiddin said that though the BN was disappointed with the outcome of the by-election, it accepted the result as it was the choice of the constituents.

He said the BN would analyse the reasons for its defeat and have discussions with the Sarawak BN in order to recapture the seat in the next election.

"Going beyond a post-mortem, we want to evaluate the performance of the existing (election) machinery as well as the approach we have used.

"We were made to understand that the situation in Sarawak was different from that in the Peninsular but, from what we seen, the sentiments of the voters are not any different.

"As such, we will use a more suitable approach. We will take stock of the situation and will hold discussions with the Sarawak BN," he said.

In Kuching, Sarawak BN chairperson Abdul Taib Mahmud said the coalition respected the outcome of the by-election because it was the people's choice.

The Sarawak chief minister said the Sarawak BN would conduct a post-mortem to identify the causes of the BN's defeat.

The defeat of the BN in Sibu should not be used as the yardstick for the support of the people in the state for the BN, he told reporters before chairing a meeting at the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) headquarters prior to the sitting of the State Legislative Assembly.

- Bernama