Kemaman polls: BN candidate well-received, says coalition deputy chairman

KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan believes that the 'cah keting' (internal sabotaging) culture among party members will not happen in the Kemaman Parliamentary by-election.

He said that this is considering that the former Chief of Defence Forces, Gen (Rtd) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, who was named as the candidate to represent the coalition is well received by members.

However, he said during the 14-day campaign period for the by-election, starting today, what is important is that the Barisan machinery needs to focus.

"It is crucial for us to approach our voters - the Barisan and Umno members - first, then approach those who were on the fence before, those who had problems, who used to be part of ‘cah keting’.

"Alhamdulillah, thus far nothing has been heard, in fact, the candidate representing Barisan is well received," he told reporters during the nomination process on Saturday (Nov 18).

Apart from that, Mohamad, who is also the Defence Minister, said that the BN candidate was the best because he had contributed to the people of Kemaman, especially during the big flood in 2013.

"In 2013 when the big flood occurred, he built a big bridge in Kemaman when he was in the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM). He also contributed to the country when he was the Chief of Defence Forces and raised the image of ATM to a higher level, and if we win (here) it will be easy for us to carry out work,” he said.

Meanwhile, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, said that the party would try to ensure the victory of its candidate with a bigger majority than in the 15th General Election (GE15).

"Insya-Allah, with the efforts of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) machinery, it will give more votes than the last GE15,” he said.

The Kemaman by-election will witness a straight fight between BN’s candidate, Raja Mohamed Affandi and the PAS candidate, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

The Election Commission (EC) has set early voting on Nov 28 and polling day on Dec 2, after the by-election has been called following the Terengganu Election Court’s ruling on Sept 26 to nullify the victory of PAS candidate, Che Alias Hamid, in the 15th General Election. (GE15). - Bernama