BATU PAHAT: PAS' move to support Barisan Nasional candidates in the upcoming polls should not be seen as a racial issue, says Johor caretaker Mentri Besar.
Noting that while this was the narrative being played up by DAP leaders to scare the Chinese community, Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, welcomed PAS support for Barisan and stressed that DAP had also worked with PAS in the past.
“In the past there was no problem, but when PAS now supports Barisan, it is turned into a racial issue.
“I am sure Bangsa Johor are mature and wise not to believe all the remarks made by DAP leaders,” he said after visiting to check on election machinery here on Tuesday (June 30).
Asked about PAS representative also joining the event, Onn Hafiz said that he was actually touched and shocked that they too came along to support the Barisan candidate here.
“I hope this will translate into more people coming and voting for Barisan,” he added.
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Asked about attacks made by former Johor speaker Datuk Dr Puad Zarkashi, Onn Hafiz said that he was unperturbed, as he was only doing it because of his son.
“This fight is not about any individual. He wants to attack me, let him do it,” he said, adding that past assemblymen such as Ayub Jamil who made way for Puad to contest did not sulk when he was not selected to contest the seat.
Onn Hafiz said that Ayub never came out and said anything.
“This fight is for the party and for the people of Johor,” he said, adding that issues raised by Puad such as the water disruption and about the construction of a levee here, Onn Hafiz brushed it off, saying that all he was raising them to instigate the people.
PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man was reported to have urged voters and supporters to vote for Barisan in the seats not contested by Perikatan.
Perikatan is contesting 33 seats in Johor, with Bersatu contesting 16, PAS 11, the Malaysian Indian People’s Party (MIPP) five and Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) one.
Checks showed that at least 13 of the 23 other seats that PAS is asking its members to support were non-Malay majority seats, including Bekok, Tangkak, Bentayan, Yong Peng, Parit Yaani, Penggaram, Mengkibol, Puteri Wangsa, Johor Jaya, Bukit Batu, Perling, Skudai, Senai
