The Malaysian Insight

ISA Samad did nothing for Negri Sembilan in his 22 years as menteri besar, Rais Yatim said of his successor, yesterday night.

If the people of Port Dickson wished to see a genuine change, Rais said, they should vote for PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim. 

“What we want to know now is, can we rely on Anwar Ibrahim to bring changes as the MP? The answer is yes, we can. 

“Isa cannot do that. You were in power for 22-years, why couldn’t you do then the things you are promising to do now?” the former Umno stalwart said at a by-election ceramah in Taman Intan Perdana, Port Dickson.

“I was only MB for one term yet I left behind me the Umno house, DUN building and complete infrastructures in the districts. 

“He should have done the same thing to fulfil the needs of the people in 22 years.”

Rais was the Negeri Sembilan menteri besar from 1978 to 1982. 

Rais said Isa had “failed” to deliver what he promised the people and was now irrelevant in Malaysia’s new political landscape.

Apart from Isa, Pakatan Harapan candidate Anwar is up against air force veteran Mohd Nazari Mokhtar of PAS, Anwar’s former aide and sodomy accuser Mohd Saiful Azlan Bukhari, and three other independents in a seven-way fight for Port Dickson. 

In GE14, the PKR candidate Danyal Balagopal Abdullah won 36,225 votes, defeating the BN and PAS candidates who received 18,515 and 6,594 votes, respectively.

The election was called when Danyal resigned to allow Anwar to stage a comeback in Parliament.

Voters in Port Dickson are 43% Malay, 33% Chinese, 22% Indians, and 2% others. – October 11, 2018.