Party endorsement: Mohamad (right) handing over the letter of appointment to state assembly candidate (DUN) Juasseh, Puan Sri Bibi Sharliza Mohd Khalid at the Negri Sembilan Umno office yesterday. Looking on is state Umno chief Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias. — Bernama
SEREMBAN: Keep your pockets empty while campaigning and refrain from making statements involving the party.
This message from Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan was for all 108 Barisan Nasional candidates who will be contesting in the elections to be held in six states on Aug 12.
The Barisan deputy chairman said all candidates should strictly abide by this advice during campaigning to ensure they and the party do not face unnecessary problems in the run-up to the polls, or after the elections.
“It is normal for people to ask politicians for financial assistance, donations or ‘sedekah’ (alms) when you are there in the middle of campaigning, but if you do, this can be misconstrued as buying votes.
“My advice to you is to not do charity or give any donations during the period as you are giving ammunition to others and this can be used to challenge you later on if you win the election.
“You must remember there are people out there who wish to win by default,” he said in his speech after presenting letters of appointment to Barisan candidates contesting in the state polls.
Mohamad also reminded them not to respond to or make any statement regarding the party and allow the leaders to handle this.
“When you campaign, reporters and others are going to ask you many questions.
“Your focus should only be your constituency. Work hard, visit as many localities as you can and know what your strengths and weaknesses are.
“Do not make any other statements as these can be used to cause a rift amongst us,” he said, adding that candidates should not respond to queries outside of their constituency.
Separately, Mohamad said Negri Sembilan Barisan was confident of making a clean sweep of the 17 seats it is contesting in the state.
However, he reminded the party machinery to work hard to ensure this is realised.
“We won five parliamentary seats in the last general election, but we must remember that a state election is a different affair altogether.
“On paper, we have the advantage, but let us not take this for granted as our adversaries may resort to slander to get votes,” he alleged.
There are 36 seats in the legislative assembly.
In the last election, Pakatan Harapan won 20 while Barisan bagged the remaining 16.
On another matter, Mohamad said the tagline for Barisan’s manifesto for the six state polls was Unite for Stability and Prosperity (Perpaduan Demi Kestabilan dan Kemakmuran).
He added that every state will also have its local themes and pledges.
“We will keep it simple and realistic as we do not want to be making promises that we can’t keep.
“We must remember that we have to go back to the rakyat every five years and shouldn’t make pledges that we can’t deliver on,” he added.
