Pakatan wants to "kill me off", says Tok Mat

SEREMBAN: Barisan Nasional candidate for the Rantau by-election Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan says Pakatan Harapan is vying to win the seat for the first time in 60 years in order to "kill him off".

He said that it was not because Rantau was an especially important seat to conquer, but Pakatan wanted to see an end to his political career and silence him from criticising the Negri Sembilan state government.

"In Rantau, they want to kill off Tok Mat. They know that I'm like a spinning top. The longer it spins, the stronger it gets.

"They want to win in Rantau and stop the momentum of Umno and Barisan Nasional's uprising and winning streak.

"And in Rantau, I'm the person that they should kill off. If (I'm) alive, Pakatan will be against us," he said at a ceramah in Taman Nusari Bayu 2, Bandar Sri Sendayan on Sunday night.

The three-term Rantau assemblyman and former Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar also claimed the Election Commission was forced to delay the date for the Rantau by-election.

He said this was to lessen the impact of Barisan's winning momentum in the two previous by-elections in Cameron Highlands and Semenyih.

"In GE14, I never campaigned in this area. Pakatan wants to win in Rantau because we have won in Cameron Highlands and Semenyih, they want to stop the momentum.

"I've never seen the EC holding a meeting for a month to set the date for a by-election because they want to kill off our momentum of winning by-elections," he said.

Rantau polling day on April 13 will see Mohamad squaring off against Pakatan candidate Dr S. Streram and independent candidates Mohd Nor Yassin and Malar Rajaram.

The Rantau by-election was triggered following a Federal Court decision to uphold an earlier ruling by the Election Court to nullify the results for Rantau.

In GE14, Umno deputy president Mohamad won the state seat unopposed after Dr Streram was denied entry to submit his nomination papers as he did not have a tag or a pass.

Election Court judge Azimah Omar allowed Dr Streram's petition for a by-election on the grounds that Mohamad's election victory was not valid.

The Rantau polls is the seventh by-election post-GE14, and the third to be held in 2019 after Cameron Highlands and Semenyih.