SEREMBAN, April 4 — The campaign period for the Rantau by-election which entered its sixth day today saw only two of the four candidates actively approaching voters.
Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr S. Streram and Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan are doing their best to woo voters, however, the two Independent candidates in the contest have so far shown little inclination to win the state seat.
Dr S. Streram, 60, representing PH and Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate and Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, 63.
Dr Streram, 60, an anaesthetist who is also Rembau PKR deputy chief, has so far set at least five to six programmes per day, while Mohamad has got one or two planned a day, besides other events which have not been informed to the media.
One of the two Independent candidates, R. Malarvizhi, 51, has not been holding too many programmes with about two a day, while former lecturer Mohd Nor Yassin, 67, has been “missing” from the campaign radar and as of yesterday, had not made his debut appearance in Rantau.
While BN is setting a strategy to defend the seat held by Mohamad since 2004, PH is also trying its best to wrest the seat, with key party leaders making appearances in several programmes.
Among them are Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who is also PH president, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Amanah vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof, DAP vice chairman M. Kula Segaran, and PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
Wan Azizah, who is also the PKR Advisory Council chairman, has campaigned there three times since March 30, while Anwar, who is also Port Dickson MP, has appeared twice.
It is understood that Anwar, who is also Port Dickson MP, will go down to campaign every other day until the eve of the polling date set on April 13.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had described the contest as the ‘mother of all by-elections’ after six previous contests have seen four won by PH and two by BN.
The by-election has been necessitated by the Federal Court’s dismissal of an appeal filed by Mohamad to set aside the Nov 16 Seremban Election Court decision declaring his unopposed victory in the 14th general election (GE14) null and void.
In GE14, Mohamad was declared the winner of the seat for Barisan Nasional (BN) after Dr Streram, the potential Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate, was prohibited from entering the nomination centre to submit his nomination papers because he did not have a pass issued by the EC.
Dr Streram said during the campaign so far, he got too many problems faced by the people, and identified the facilities that needed to be improved.
Meanwhile, Mohd Nor Yassin, when contacted by Bernama said he was still making internal preparations before beginning his campaign, and today sent out his first invitation to the media via WhatsApp.
Housewife R. Malarvizhi, meanwhile said the response from the public in Rantau had been fantastic throughout the campaign so far.
“Being a newbie in politics, people are being supportive and have started to recognise me better compared to day one of my campaign. Whenever I walk around the town, people start to honk and say that ‘my vote is for you’,” she told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Mohamad said his campaign was running smoothly and thanked those who had helped him during the campaign from Umno, MCA, MIC, Makkal Sakti, IPF, Kimma and PAS. — Bernama
