The Malaysian Insight

NEGRI Sembilan Bersatu is campaigning to get Umno supporters to vote for Anwar Ibrahim in the Port Dickson by-election.

Secretary-general Marzuki Yahya said the chapter’s plan is to go from house to house, to persuade Umno folk in the Bagan Pinang state seat.

“Our strategy is to go from house to house. We have already arranged the machinery. We are assigned to the Bagan Pinang state constituency,” he told a press conference last night.

The deputy foreign minister said Bersatu is confident that its plan will succeed as Umno is not contesting the by-election, to be held on Saturday.

“Of course, we will get as many people as we can.”

The senator also said Bersatu will touch on the Malay agenda to entice Umno members to vote for PKR president-elect Anwar.

“There is an impression that the government is not doing anything for Malays. We would like to correct that view. We always place importance on the Malay agenda,” Marzuki told The Malaysian Insight after the press conference.

He denied that Bersatu is boycotting the by-election, saying the party is present for the last leg of the campaign.

“We are not too late. This is the second round of campaigning. We have arranged for programmes involving our ministers, like Syed Saddiq and Rina,” he said, referring to Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Rural Development Minister Rina Harun.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin will be in Port Dickson to campaign, while chairman and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is expected to arrive tomorrow.

Marzuki said Bersatu has resolved the problems involving the Negri Sembilan chapter, which included an internal power struggle.

The restructured party chapter will now be led by former Umno veteran Rais Yatim, and will be fully operational after the by-election.

“There were disciplinary issues and internal issues. There was a struggle for power and position, but we have fully resolved it,” said Marzuki.

Anwar is in a seven-way battle for Port Dickson. He is up against five independent candidates – Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Isa Samad, Lau Seck Yan, Stevie Chan and Kan Chee Yuen – and air force veteran Mohd Nazari Mokhtar of PAS.

The seat fell vacant after Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, of PKR, quit as MP to make way for Anwar, who is attempting a Parliament comeback.

This is in line with PH’s plan to have him take over from Dr Mahathir as prime minister.

In the 14th general election, Danyal got 36,225 votes, defeating Barisan Nasional’s Mogan Velayatham and Mahfuz Roslan of PAS, who received 18,515 and 6,594 votes, respectively.

The constituency has 77,750 voters, comprising 43% Malays, Chinese (33%), Indians (22%) and others (2%). – October 7, 2018.