TANAH RATA, Jan 23 — At the Pakatan Harapan (PH) finale ceramah tonight, the coalition’s leaders urged outstation voters to go back and vote in the Cameron Highlands by-election.
It was the message echoed by the main speakers of the ceramah, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.
Anwar urged the crowd to tell their family members and friends, who live outside of Cameron Highlands, to come back for the by-election.
“This is an important election for us. What we are really worried about is the voters who have relocated elsewhere.
“This is our responsibility. Those who are in Kuala Lumpur or Shah Alam can come back and vote,” he said.
Guan Eng and Kit Siang repeated the call in English and Chinese.
Malay Mail previously reported that outstation voters, especially the Chinese and Indians, who are the major supporters of PH here, will not be coming back to vote for various reasons, including the advent of Chinese New Year, which is about a week after polling day.
Anwar also asked outstation voters to give a chance to the coalition to win the parliamentary seat.
“We admit and we are sorry for not fulfilling some of our promises. But don’t compare 60 years of the previous government with eight months of ours.
“Give us another few years to complete all our promises and restore the country,” he said.
The Cameron Highlands District Council parking area came alive today as hundreds of locals gathered as early as 7pm to hear the coalition’s bigwigs speak.
A similar ceramah is also expected to take place in the Jelai constituency, which is believed to be Barisan Nasional’s stronghold, tomorrow night.
It will be attended by Guan Eng, PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Amanah secretary-general Anuar Tahir and its vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa.
The Cameron Highlands parliamentary constituency has a total of 32,009 registered voters, with 19,524 voters from the Tanah Rata state constituency while the remaining 12,485 are from Jelai state constituency.
Malays make up the majority of voters, at about 33.5 per cent, followed by ethnic Chinese at 29.48 per cent, Orang Asli at 21.56 per cent, ethnic Indians at 14.91 per cent and others at 0.55 per cent.
The multi-cornered contest involves Ramli Mohd Noor from BN, M. Manogaran from PH and independent candidates Wong Seng Yee and Sallehudin Ab Talib.
Polling day is on January 26.
