SEMENYIH, Feb 24 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) disagrees with the perception that it has run out of political capital and exploiting the crisis involving former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as its main capital for its ceramah and campaign to defend the Semenyih State Assembly seat.

PH deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said there were many more local issues and problems faced by the people that they could exploit but the capital on ‘Najib’ was also used merely to remind the people why they had rejected Barisan Nasional (BN) in the last general election.

"Not all ceramah are like that... there are still many other issues but this factor must be mentioned to correct the situation so that the people do not forget what caused the nation to become the way it is, such as the national debt and the rising cost of living.

"We don’t exploit that single factor,” Muhyiddin told reporters after attending a gathering with the Chinese community at a restaurant at a Chinese New Village, here today in a series of campaigns for the PH candidate, Muhammad Aiman Zainali, in the run-up to the by-election for the Semenyih State Legislative Assembly seat next week.

The Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president said the ruling coalition was not weakened by the image ’Bossku’ promoted by Najib, in fact, the coalition believed the constituents in Semenyih were wise in evaluating which leader should be supported.

Muhyiddin said he perceived that Najib frequently got down on the ground as he did not want to be forgotten as a result of the influence now gained by Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

"That is my own perception. He feared that if he did not show himself then the public may not remember him, so he has to popularise himself through various ways... he is still interested to return to Umno, his interest to come back as the prime minister must be there after seeing that Dr Mahathir could become prime minister for the second time,” he said.

Muhyiddin subsequently said that no matter what the Opposition did to criticise the government, he felt that in the days to come there would be more announcements, decisions and good news to be announced by the PH.

"The Opposition is afraid because our coalition is getting stronger so they manipulated all kinds of stories by trying to put us at loggerheads, that is politics of desperation, bankrupt politics, they are doing these things in the hope that the people will be influenced,” he said.

Responding to the allegations that PH was giving bribes by distributing "bubur lambuk” (broth) last Friday at a mosque here, he said: "Someone gave me water (at the restaurant) to drink, of course this cannot be construed as bribery, don’t be too excessive, extreme.

"I don’t think giving ‘bubur lambuk’ to the people is bribery... it is normal... not giving RM10 or RM100 in cash... if it does not reach that level, I don’t think it is a major problem,” he said.

The by-election for the Semenyih State Legislative Assembly seat on March 2 will see a four-cornered contest between Muhammad Aiman Zainali, Zakaria Hanafi (Barisan Nasional), Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul (Parti Sosialis Malaysia) and Independent candidate Kuan Chee Heng.

The Semenyih state seat fell vacant following the death of the incumbent, Bahtiar Mohd Nor, 57, on January 11. — Bernama