Serian folk will not abandon BN in GE14, assures Riot

SERIAN: Human Resources Minister and six-time Serian MP Dato Sri Richard Riot Jaem thanked fellow Barisan Nasional elected representatives Tebedu assemblyman Dato Sri Michael Manyin and Kedup assemblyman Martin Ben for being there to ensure his thumping victories in the previous general elections.

Riot said his majority achieved in the 12th General Election in 2008 and 13th General Election in 2013 numbered more than 13,000 votes, and attributed it to the close cooperation in BN despite the MP and assemblymen coming from different BN component parties. He was confident he could improve on his vote majority if nominated by BN to defend the seat.

“The voters in P199 Serian will not abandon Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and BN with all the development that are being carried out.

“On the other hand, Serian voters have every reason to reject Tun Dr Mahathir Muhammad for the 22 years he totally ignored Serian,” he said after presenting close to a quarter million ringgit in development grants to 22 recipients that included village development and security committees here yesterday.

Riot said Serian people saluted Datuk Seri Najib for having visited Serian six times since becoming Prime Minister in April 2009.

He described DAP and Dr Mahathir, who was named as the Prime Minister candidate by the opposition, as ‘strange bedfellows’ for their sudden interest in championing the people via Pakatan Harapan (PH) when the 14th General Election is around the corner.

With the GE14 fast shaping up into Malaysia’s ‘Mother of Elections’, he said the opposition parties especially DAP was set to take the brunt of the people’s anger towards Dr Mahathir including in Serian.

“Outsiders will not know this, but voters of P199 Serian will take out their anger on Dr Mahathir. They are angry because in all his 22 years as prime minister, Dr Mahathir never visited Serian,” he said.