CAMERON HIGHLANDS, Jan 17 — Campaigning for Barisan Nasional (BN) in Cameron Highlands today, Datuk Seri Najib Razak pretended to search for a non-existent "counter” by the rival Pakatan Harapan (PH) reimbursing election volunteers for money spent on petrol up the mountainous Pahang constituency.

"I wanted to ask where is the counter to claim petrol. Since I will be here for two or three days, maybe I could claim petrol money from PH,” he told reporters at the Masjid Kampung Raja here.

The Pekan MP was mocking the ruling coalition’s explanation for the RM20 paid as "petrol money” in reimbursement to its volunteers during the official campaign period that started last Saturday, which BN politicians have insisted to be bribes.

"I came here to help the Barisan Nasional candidate Ramli Mohd Noor. I don’t know why the Opposition are afraid of me helping in the campaigning. I’m no longer the prime minister,” Najib added. The PH coalition remains the Opposition in BN-controlled Pahang.

He had earlier on his Facebook page trolled DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and asked the latter why he was so "obsessed” with him.

Najib told reporters that contrary to Lim’s claim that the BN is confident of retaining Cameron Highlands, the once-powerful former ruling coalition has to work hard for its victory this round.

"I know the sentiment here is still strong towards the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussien, me and BN overall.

"But in a by-election we can’t take things lightly as PH seems to have a lot of money now,” he said, smiling suggestively.

BN leaders accused PH of bribery after pictures of a woman in a PH shirt handing cash to other people wearing the same shirt surfaced on social media starting last Sunday.

PH refuted the claim, saying the money was to reimburse its volunteers cash spent on petrol for transport.

Electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 has also weighed in and said reimbursing campaign volunteers their travel expenditure is not an offence if it has been budgeted for in the party’s election accounts and stays within the RM200,000 limit.

Najib who was also walking about with BN candidate Ramli Mohd Noor, praised the Orang Asli (OA) police pensioner as being the best candidate for the seat.

"He is a local and he has a lot of relatives here. He is also a leader who represent the OA community, who soon will create a history by becoming the proud of the OA community in Cameron Highlands and the country as whole, when he wins the seat,” Najib said.

Ramli said he found Najib’s presence on the campaign trail most helpful.

Ramli is facing off against PH’s M. Manogaran and two independent candidates Sallehudin Ab Talib, a senior lecturer in Institut Aminuddin Baki Genting Highland, and Wong Seng Yee, who is a local farmer and activist.