SEMENYIH, March 1 — With only several hours left before Semenyih decides their next state assemblyman, Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders made a final attempt to win crucial Malay votes within the rural areas of Kampung Kuala Pajam.
With the two-week campaign coming to an end, the guest of honour was none other than Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) supreme council member Tan Sri Rais Yatim who stumped for PH in Kampung Kuala Pajam, situated just slightly above the border between Selangor and Negri Sembilan.
Utilising Microsoft PowerPoint slides to conduct the ceramah, Rais took the audience on a “short rewind trip” by highlighting significant corruption scandals linked to the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration that had taken place in the last decade.
Among the notable examples were the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal allegedly linked to former Wanita Umno chief Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal linked to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho — also known as Jho Low — made multiple appearances throughout the presentation as one of the ‘key’ individuals in the 1MDB scandal, with luxury yacht Equanimity also used to describe the ‘excess’ of money allegedly stolen to purchase the vessel.
The 54,503 registered voters in Semenyih comprise 67.71 per cent Malay voters, 16.69 per cent Chinese, and 13.73 per cent Indians, according to the Election Commission’s (EC) electoral roll as of January 11.
According to EC, a total of 989 people will cast their votes at the Kuala Pajam district polling centre.
The entire ceramah was presented in a simple educational narrative by Rais to enable the audience numbering around 180 people — with an overwhelming majority consisting of local villagers of Malay ethnicity — to better understand. the intended message in a simple manner.
Throughout the ceramah that lasted for almost half an hour, Rais’ eloquence and his ability to speak the local Minangkabau dialect kept the audience glued to the screen of a mobile stage truck.
Rais who is also PPBM Negri Sembilan chief, also highlighted PH’s success on the federal level and broke down each one of them with snippets of news reports.
Throughout the ceramah, a small “kenduri”, or feast in Malay, was held in front of a wooden house which also doubled as the Kuala Pajam operations centre.
Among the senior leaders present that gave their speech were PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, PPBM secretariat head Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and Pakatan’s candidate Muhammad Aiman Zainali.
This by-election is the first for PH’s component party PPBM and a major test to gauge Malay support for the ruling coalition.
PH candidate Muhammad Aiman Zainali is running against BN’s Zakaria Hanafi from Umno, Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul, and independent Kuan Chee Heng.
Polling for the by-election is set from 8am to 5.30pm.
