TELUK INTAN, May 30 — The Teluk Intan by-election tomorrow should be decided by the votes of local folks as they would be the one staying put here, Barisan Nasional's (BN) candidate Datuk Mah Siew Keong urged today.
Acknowledging that outstation voters are more likely to vote DAP, Mah urged those who are returning home to factor in the livelihood of local folks when they cast their votes.
“The ones who live in Teluk Intan are us. [But] our future is decided by people from outside,” Mah said in a meeting with Indian groups here.
“So I fear, because they’re going all out getting all these outside voters. They don’t live here.”
Mah urged young voters to think about their parents who he said would have to continue putting up with Teluk Intan’s potholed roads and defective streetlights, if DAP continues to hold the seat.
“Don’t you care about your parents who live here every day? You only come home once a year,” Mah said.
Admitting his slim chance in wresting the set from DAP, Mah also told the audience to ask their friends and family to come out to vote, in order to counter the return of outstation voters.
This comes as DAP’s Dr Ong Kian Ming said yesterday that the party only estimates 10 per cent of voters living outside Teluk Intan to cast their ballots in the by-election this Saturday.
Ong, who leads the DAP outstation voter campaign, said only one in every 10 voter queried by the party indicated plans to return for the by-election, which could prove dangerous for the DAP.
It is estimated that 10 per cent of Teluk Intan’s 60,349-strong electorate reside outside the constituency, which equals to about 6,000 outstation voters who are generally pro-opposition.
