KULAI: Johor Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi took a swipe at Pakatan Harapan’s candidate Dr Maszlee Malik for getting federal and state roads confused in his campaign.
Onn Hafiz said after losing in Simpang Renggam in the previous general election, Maszlee is now contesting Puteri Wangsa in the current Johor polls.
“Back then, he made all kinds of promises to the Simpang Renggam people to gain their vote. The other side also promised to abolish tolls, National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans and reduce fuel prices but did they?
“Then he ran to Puteri Wangsa and is now trying to influence the people there.
“He said Johor’s roads have many potholes, but the road he referred to was a federal road, not a state road,” said Onn Hafiz in his speech when meeting with Kulai residents at Flat Cengal on Thursday (July 2).
On June 29, Maszlee made videos of himself driving a car from Tebrau to Ulu Tiram to show the road condition.
Onn Hafiz added that voters should look at whether promises made during previous elections had been fulfilled to prevent being duped again in the 16th Johor state election.
“They are now using similar tactics during the current election campaign. That is their modus operandi, campaigning with promises of the moon and stars,” he said.
Onn Hafiz also hit out at incumbent Bukit Batu assemblyman Arthur Chiong of PKR, who had claimed that the state government did not provide allocations for the constituency.
“In the digital era, everything is recorded. Maybe he saw his election machinery and got too excited,” he said.
On June 13, Chiong claimed there was no allocation from the Johor government for this year - he retracted the remark the next day and apologised for the confusion.
Meanwhile, Onn Hafiz urged Barisan Nasional’s Kulai election machinery to focus on engaging young voters and encouraging them to come out to vote.
He said young voters played an important role in influencing election outcomes, citing the 2018 general election where he claimed youth sentiments had influenced their families’ voting decisions.
He added that Kulai has three state seats namely Bukit Batu, which has about 50,000 voters, Senai has about 66,000 voters and Bukit Permai has about 44,000 voters.
