PAS candidate at Seri Setia attacks Pakatan for SST and unfulfilled pledges

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 ― What was supposed to have been a debate between the two Seri Setia by-election candidates turned into a Pakatan Harapan (PH) bashing session when its candidate was a no-show.

Unfulfilled promises and the implementation of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) were among the issues PAS’ Dr Halimah Ali lambasted the ruling coalition for.

 “I met with a Chinese hardware shop owner and asked how was business, and if prices had dropped like they were supposed to with the SST,” said Dr Halimah. “‘Huh? Is it? The prices went up!’ he told me.”

She said her observations from traders and residents in the area showed most of them experienced price hikes with the implementation of the SST.

“I asked the auntie selling snacks, the uncle manning his stall, and the small time traders, they all said the prices went up,” she said.

Dr Halimah also targeted the youths, who make up 37 per cent of the 54,000 voters in Seri Setia, claiming PH’s unfulfilled promises ended up burdening them the most.

“They said petrol prices would drop, with PTPTN loans and tolls abolished. But what has happened in reality… tolls are still there, petrol is the same price, and not only must you pay the loans, you could be declared bankrupt if you default,” she said in reference to the National Higher Education Fund.

Also present at last night’s ceramah was Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Kedah Umno chief Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, and MIC’s Central Elections Committee Chief Datuk S. Gopalakrishnan.

Jamil, in his speech, also stressed PH’s unfulfilled promises and how they affect the youth, saying anyone would be silly to reject their sweet pledges leading up to GE14.

“Imagine, they said no PTPTN repayments, no tolls, and petrol would be set at RM1.50 a litre.

For someone from Kedah and living in KL, if this was the scenario, they would go back to their home town three times a week because it would be so cheap, but that’s not the case,” he said.

Jamil then asked the approximately 50 participants at the ceramah to vote Dr Halimah as their representative to champion the people and their needs.

“On September 8, we ask that our representative Dr Halimah be voted in to defend and fight for the rights of the people again,” he said.

Dr Halimah and PH’s Halimey Abu Bakar go head-to-head for the Seri Setia state seat this Saturday, a seat left vacant following the death of its incumbent Prof Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin on August 2 due to colon cancer.