SEMENYIH, Feb 26 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Muhammad Aiman Zainali had a small hiccup when he forgot his election tag and was refused entry into the polling centre for early voters in the Semenyih by-election this morning.
The 31-year-old only managed to enter the multipurpose hall at Battalion 4 of the General Operations Force camp here at 11.45am, over three hours after his arrival.
“I was actually at the gates by 8.50am before realising my tag and pass was in another car headed to Kuala Lumpur,” he told reporters here, explaining his delay in entering the hall.
The Star new portal had earlier reported the PH candidate missing from the polling centre. Barisan Nasional candidate Zakaria Hanafi, Parti Sosialis Malaysia candidate Nik Afif Afiq Abdul and independent candidate Kuan Chee Keong had arrived earlier.
“The police at the gates didn't let me in even though I’m one of the candidates, but that’s a good sign. They're doing their jobs and doing it well,” Aiman said, praising the officers on duty.
“I waited for someone to bring the tags to me while I waited outside. It's my first time experiencing something like this and it's all part of a learning curve,” the Semenyih native added.
The engineer said he has covered over 70 per cent of the Selangor state constituency to date and will be upping the ante before polling on March 2.
“We're going to be more aggressive with our campaigning from now on,” he said.
The son-in-law to the former Semenyih assemblyman Bakhtiar Mohd Nor whose death from a heart attack on January 11 triggered the by-election also said he had “good news” for residents.
He said the Health Ministry is planning to add a clinic in Semenyih following news reports highlighting the difficulty residents have in accessing public healthcare services.
“It means the people’s voice has been heard by the government.
“I believe it'll take time, but hopefully after the clinic we can get a hospital built,” he added.
