PORT DICKSON, Oct 10 — Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Port Dickson by-election candidate Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today pledged to work with ally Lim Kit Siang to reform the country’s Parliament within six months, if he is elected.

"Parliament is not a rubberstamp but a place to discuss (issues) to uphold the interests of the people. I have told (Prime Minister) Tun Mahathir Mohamad that we will work together to ensure we have a strong Parliament,” he said at a rally in the Chinese majority district of Lukut.

"I will work with Lim to ensure that in six months, Parliament will be reformed.”

He did not elaborate on the areas of reforms he had in mind.

Some 400 voters, mostly Chinese, were present at the rally.

Lukut is one of the five state seats in the Port Dickson parliamentary ward in the state of Negri Sembilan. The seat has 53.9 per cent of Chinese voters, 22.5 per cent of Malay voters, 23.4 per cent of Indian voters and 0.2 per cent of voters of other races.

Lim, 77, is a senior parliamentarian from PH’s component DAP. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1969.

In an interview back in August, Anwar, 71, had said he would like to play a "check-and-balance” role in Parliament by looking at institutional reforms including a review of the affirmative action policy.

He had also said improvements could be made to government procurement and the anti-graft agency to make it into an independent body.

Anwar arrived at the rally at about 9pm to applause from the crowd who wanted to take pictures with him. He spoke about 10 minutes before leaving.

As he was leaving, Lim and Anwar hugged each other, a public demonstration of the warm relationship between the two senior PH leaders.

Anwar also thanked the crowd for giving him a warm welcome since he started officially campaigning on September 29.

"With the response from all of you, I am happy and I believe I made the right choice (in contesting in Port Dickson). I give you my pledge that I will give my best for Port Dickson,” he said.

He also stressed the need for national unity, saying that PH is a coalition that values contribution from all, regardless of race.

"This is the new Malaysia, we emphasise on good culture, we have the people’s interests at heart,” he said.

He added: "We are all one family”, to rapturous applause.

The Port Dickson by-election was triggered after incumbent Member of Parliament Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah vacated his seat last month for Anwar, to aid his return to Parliament.

Anwar has been named PH’s prime minister-in-waiting but needs a seat in Parliament to legitimise his position should Dr Mahathir step down for him during this term, as promised.

He is up against six other opponents in this Saturday’s election but analysts say he should be able to clinch the seat easily. — TODAY