SANDAKAN, May 10 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak tonight tried to endear himself even further with people here, telling them he was the prime minister who cared the most for Sabahans and even now.
At a final ceramah hours before polling stations open for the Sandakan by-election, he said he was the one who visited Sabah the most compared to his predecessor and successor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and that he has done the most for Sabahans.
“I love the people of Sabah. I visit Sabah the most, more often than the fourth and seventh PM now. As the PM, I said something needs to be done for Sabah.
“I see that Sabahans think semenanjung people mistreat them. So I did all kinds of things for them — the Pan Borneo Highway, the gas pipeline and RM1billion for dilapidated schools around here,” the Pekan MP said.
He said in comparison the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has let down the people of Sabah with broken promises and taken away the people’s aid.
Najib was speaking to a crowd of more than 1,000 people in Taman Harmoni people’s housing project here with many standing on chairs and clamouring to get a better view of the “bossku” personality.
To rousing cheers, Najib said that he was welcomed with open arms by the people of Sandakan during his earlier visit to Giant supermarket because people recognised his contribution to the people here.
“People call me Pak BR1M. Ya, I’m not ashamed of it. I want to help people with BR1M, I’m not misleading, not buyuk. That’s PH. They promised a lot to Sabah and Sarawak,” he said, using a local word for ‘cheat’.
He urged people to support the Parti Bersatu Sabah candidate to send a message to the PH government that they cannot get away with breaking their promises.
“Supporting PBS is supporting Umno. Let’s reject DAP, and its tricks. We must support non-Malays and non-Muslims who respect islam,” he said.
It is the last night of campaigning for the five-cornered Sandakan parliamentary seat which will see a race between PBS’s Datuk Linda Tsen, DAP’s Vivian Wong and three independent candidates — Hamzah Abdullah, Chia Siew Yung and Sulaiman Abdul Samat.
In the DAP ceramah in Bandar Letat, about a 10-minute drive from Najib’s ceramah, attendance reached its highest number yet despite the rain.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu, PKR deputy president Datuk Azmin Ali and the usual DAP stalwarts Lim Kit Siang and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng were also in attendance.
Wong’s emotional speech to pledge to fulfil her father’s legacy and stay honest and work hard garnered much applause and cheers from the crowd.
Wong is the youngest daughter of Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt whose death on March 28 necessitated the by-election
Polling will be held from 7.30am to 5pm tomorrow.
