The Malaysian Insight

A FEW polling centres in Port Dickson has been quiet since balloting began at 8am today.

In SJKC Yik Chao in Bukit Pelandok, Chuah, an Election Commission officer said there had been few voters.

Yet some voters told The Malaysian Insight many of their friends were coming back today most of them to vote for Anwar.

Voter Saw Long Sheng, 29, said many of his friends were returning from Kuala Lumpur and Johor to vote. 

“We all know who will be the next PM. We want him to be PM,” said the service manager.

Saw said former Negri Sembilan menteri besar Isa Samad was unqualified for the job while the rest of the independent candidates were unknown to him.

Voter Mrs Gan said her son in Kuala Lumpur would be back to vote for Anwar.

“Since he comes back every few weeks, it is right that he should come back to vote.”

She was at SK Chuah with her other son around 8.30am to avoid getting caught in the rain.

Candidates are concerned the gloomy weather with a chance of rain in the afternoon may stop more people from voting.

It has rained daily in the last few days and the Meteorology Department has forecasted more rain this afternoon.

As of 10am, the voter turnout is 17%.

Meanwhile, those who had voted said it was unlikely that their family members would be returning to Port Dickson to vote today.

With almost 15,000 voters living out of the constituency, Anwar’s team has been working hard in convincing these voters to return to vote today.

Voter Abu Bakar Osman said many of PH’s young supporters were not planning to come back to vote as they did during the last general election.

“At GE14, they had wanted to change the government. So they came back in droves to vote. This by-election is a result of one man’s dream only,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Another voter, Karuppiah Palani, also felt the by-election was a waste of money, adding that many in his circle of friends and family felt the same.

He said only those living within the constituency would come to vote today.

Earlier this week, Pakatan revealed that it has identified a total of 4,936 outstation voters, with the largest number residing in Selangor (1,915), followed by Johor (762), Kuala Lumpur (566) and Melaka (589).

In addition to that there were another 11,070 registered voters living in Negri Sembilan but outside the Port Dickson parliamentary constituency. – October 13, 2018.