MUAR: Umno members are urged to ignore calls to boycott the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state by-elections on Sept 9.
Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Umno members need to set aside any differences between the parties in the unity government and give their full backing to Pakatan Harapan candidate.
"We must back Pakatan because we hope they too will support us in the Pelangai state by-election (in Pahang) and this is the first step of cooperation between various parties to support our candidate.
"We are certainly hoping for victory to continue to stabilise the state government in Johor and in Putrajaya," said Ahmad Zahid, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, at a press conference after launching the Sentuhan Kasih Desa @ Simpang Jeram: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Rural Entrepreneurship Mini Expo programme in Sungai Abong, which was also attended by Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.
Ahmad Zahid said he did not want voters to fall for Opposition propaganda to confuse the public with the 3R issues of race, religion and royalty, especially among Malay voters.
On the issue of cooperation between Barisan and DAP, Ahmad Zahid said the opposition should realise that they did the same thing before.
"Ask PAS how many times they cooperated with DAP. Why issue a different fatwa now? The same with Bersatu, they cooperated with DAP in the previous Pakatan Harapan government," he said.
The two by-elections are being held following the death of its incumbent Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub on July 23.
Pakatan is fielding former Johor state assembly speaker Suhaizan Kaiat in Pulai where he will face Perikatan Nasional's Zulkifli Jaafar and Independent candidate Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi.
In Simpang Jeram, Pakatan is fielding Bakri Amanah division deputy chief Nazri Abdul Rahman, who will be up against Perikatan's Dr Mohd Mazri Yahya, a vascular consultant and endovascular surgeon, as well as Independent candidate S. Jeganathan, a businessman. – Bernama
