Pelangai polls: Loke denies Chinese voters not going out to cast ballots on Oct 7

BENTONG: DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has denied the allegation that the Chinese community, especially in Telemong and Kampung Baru here, will not go out to vote in the Pelangai state by-election this Saturday (Oct 7).

He said the DAP machinery had been working hard to ensure electors in the constituency go out to fulfil their responsibilities to ensure victory for Barisan Nasional (BN).

Telemong is an area in the Pelangai constituency where the majority of the population is non-Malays. There are about 4,000 non-Malay voters in the area.

"This Saturday we will make sure the (DAP) votes we have, we will transfer them to BN. With this formula I am confident that we will help BN win with a comfortable majority," he told reporters after attending the Telemong Tang Lung Festival here last night.

The by-election is held following the death of incumbent assemblyman Datuk Seri Johari Harun, 53, in a plane crash in Shah Alam, Selangor, last Aug 17.

In the last 15th General Election (GE15), Johari, who represented Barisan, won with a majority of 4,048 votes, defeating the Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Kasim Samat who obtained 3,260 votes, Ahmed Wafiuddin Shamsuri of Pakatan Harapan (2,031 votes) and Pejuang candidate Isa Ahmad (65 votes).

According to Loke, he had, since the beginning of the campaign period, instructed the Pahang DAP to carry out their campaign earnestly to support Barisan in terms of morale, resources and manpower.

He said the formula of shifting the votes of the Chinese and DAP supporters to Barisan had already been proven to be successful in helping Barisan win like what happened in the state election in Tioman.

The scheduled polling for Tioman on Nov 19, 2022, was cancelled due to the unfortunate passing of Perikatan candidate Md Yunus Ramli, on the same day. The new date for the election was then rescheduled for Dec 7 of the same year.

Meanwhile, Loke said that the biggest challenge facing the party now was to ensure the return of registered voters in Pelangai who are residing elsewhere to the constituency to exercise their voting rights this Saturday.

The Pelangai by-election will witness a three-cornered contest between Barisan candidate Datuk Amizar Abu Adam, Kasim (PN) and Independent candidate Haslihelmy DM Zulhasni. - Bernama