Crucial period to make sure their messages reach voters

JOHOR BARU: With polling just a few days away, candidates are using this crucial period to ensure their messages are being heard by voters.

Barisan Nasional candidate Johan Arifin Mohd Ropi, who is contesting in the Johor Baru parliamentary seat for the first time, said he would be touching on his party as well as his own manifesto for the constituency.

“As a new face, the first week has been used to introduce myself to the voters and build confidence among them. We have yet to engage students and government servants.

“I will be sharing my ideas on lifestyle, environment, culture and arts as a commitment for the fence sitters to ensure the liveable Johor Baru city objective can be met,” he said.

Perikatan Nasional’s Iskandar Puteri candidate Jashen Tan said campaigning so far in the DAP stronghold had been good with great response.

“Besides face-to-face campaign, I am also doing mobile ceramah, where I go from one place to another, addressing issues affecting the people.

“It has received overwhelming feedback from voters in the area and I will continue doing it.

“But this time, I want to urge them to come out and vote,” he said.

Pakatan Harapan candidate for Pasir Gudang, Hassan Karim, said besides walkabouts, he also made sure to meet voters affected by flash floods.

“I have cancelled some of my walkabouts to visit flood victims in Pasir Gudang.

“In a way, this has affected my campaign as I had to reschedule my time to meet the voters.

“However, I don’t think it’s much of a problem because with social media, I am still able to share my aspirations with them.

“On top of that, my team also shared videos of me visiting the flood victims, which showed that I didn’t neglect the people even though I’m busy campaigning,” said Hassan, who is planning more walkabouts and ceremah in the next few days.

Pejuang’s candidate for Batu Pahat, Nizam Bashir Abd Karim, is adopting a hybrid campaign strategy, using both social media and traditional walkabouts.

“To some extent, the flood and rainy reason have dampened our efforts to meet people on the ground but since I am also using social media, I can still share my message with the voters.

“I also keep tabs on the comments or messages people leave on my social media and try to answer as many as I can,” he said, adding that Pejuang is expected to host a mega ceramah in the next few days which will be attended by its national leaders.