KUALA TERENGGANU, Nov 9 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) machinery for the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election must work hard to explain the misconception on the coalition in order to achieve victory in the by-election, said Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) president Mohamad Sabu.
Conceding that PH "was lagging behind" on nomination day for the by-election. Mohamad said the situation occurred because the electorates had yet to appreciate the briefings given by PH on that particular day.
“The allegation that said PH, we (Amanah) are tools for the DAP caused anger to the Malays. And I mentioned earlier (in my speech) that the Chinese newspapers were saying that Lim Guan Eng (Finance Minister) or the DAP meanwhile were tools for (the Prime Minister) Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad).
“We will endeavour...although in general the PH was lagging behind on nomination day, but now the support is increasing and we hope that by polling day, we will achieve victory although we acknowledge it is a bit difficult initially,” he told reporters after officiating the Fourth Amanah Terengganu Annual Convention, here today.
Mohamad said he was confident that PH would continue to get the voters’ support by the last week of campaigning with Dr Mahathir himself coming down to Tanjung Piai on November 13 while PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would be present one whole day in the Parliamentary constituency on November 11.
“We will try to gather support from all the races so that they could throw their weight behind the PH and benefit from the campaign to answer issues raised by the voters there including those relating to Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma),” he said.
The Tanjung Piai by-election is being held following the death of the incumbent MP Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, from PH on September 21 due to heart complication with polling fixed for Nov 16.
It involves a six-cornered fight between the PH candidate, Karmaine Sardini and candidates from the Barisan Nasional (BN), Gerakan, Barisan Jemaah Islamiah (Berjasa) as well as two independent candidates. — Bernama
