SEMENYIH, Feb 16 — Umno’s acting president Datuk Seri S today urged Semenyih voters to support Barisan Nasional (BN) in the by-election to strengthen the Opposition’s voice in the Selangor state legislative assembly.
Pointing out that a win for BN would make little difference in the state assembly that the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) dominates by 91 per cent, Mohamad said a victory would enable the Opposition to have an extra channel to highlight bread and butter issues faced by the locals.
“Barisan will be able to highlight the people’s voice on certain issues so the government wouldn’t be too strong like Selangor presently.
“When that becomes too deeply rooted, our voices are drowned due to ignorance and political agendas are prioritised over the peoples’ interest,” he said after the Election Commission (EC) announced the candidates for the by-election at Dewan Seri Cempaka, Saujana Impian here.
Presently, BN holds four seats in the State Assembly compared to 50 seats held by Pakatan Harapan and one seat by PAS.
Mohamad also stressed that it was important to have a candidate who is in tune with local sentiments as Semenyih is a state seat and not a federal seat.
“We need a ‘people’s candidate’...not a rocket scientist who is unknown or awkward with the locals.
“This candidate has been with the community. If he goes to Beranang, everyone knows him,” he said.
BN is fielding 58-year-old Zakaria Hanafi, who’s a former Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) assistant administrator from 2005-2016 and holds a bachelor’s degree in Science with honours.
“We chose the most suitable candidate because in state seats, we need an assemblyman who’s able to be solve problems for the community and not so much of going to Parliament.
“We just need an assemblyman who is able to mingle with locals and Zakaria has been identified as the person who is accepted by the community here,” Mohamad said.
The by-election has been necessitated by the death of the incumbent assemblyman, Bakhtiar Mohd Nor of PPBM of a heart attack on January 11.
Zakaria is one of the candidates vying for the state seat, with other confirmed candidates including PH’s Muhammad Aiman Zainali from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, independent Kuan Chee Heng and Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul.
The EC has set February 26 for early voting, while polling will be held on March 2.
