Anwar hopes PD voters will elect him MP
KUALA LUMPUR: PKR president- elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said yesterday he hopes that the voters of Port Dickson will make a wise decision and elect him as their MP in the by- election on Oct 13.
“InsyaAllah (God willing), the voters will make a wise decision,” he said to reporters after the conclusion of the proceedings in the defamation suit he had filed against the former BN candidate for Permatang Pauh, Datuk Dr Mazlan Ismail, in the High Court.
Anwar said he believed he can win the seat as he had an excellent track record of having championed the Malaysian Armed Forces ( MAF) personnel and veterans of the garrison town as Port Dickson town is known as.
“When (former prime minister) Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak proposed that the Sungai Besi Camp be privatised to Jho Low and gang, I objected to it in Parliament and insisted on protecting the rights of the (army) veterans.
“This ( Parliament) record is very clear and I believe the voters can access it (in the Parliament Hansard),” he said.
Anwar said he would go down to the ground to meet the voters and offer his services to them.
Asked about a Port Dickson voter having filed an application seeking leave for a judicial review to obtain a court order stating that the resignation of Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah as the MP is null and void, Anwar said that will not affect the election process.
“It is only a move by certain quarters to prevent me (from contesting). Certain quarters have tried for 20 years to stop me continuously.
“But, I am confident, InsyaAllah (God willing), that the voters will make a wise decision,” he said.
Danyal Balagopal, 68, had vacated the seat on Sept 12 to enable Anwar to contest the byelection and become an MP.
PAS has named Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar, 57, a veteran of the Royal Malaysian Air Force, as its candidate.
Other candidates include former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and social media personality Stevie Chan Keng Leong.
Parti Rakyat Malaysia ( PRM) had also indicated interest in fielding a candidate.
The nomination for the byelection is tomorrow and polling on Oct 13.
In the 14th general election on May 9, Danyal Balagopal beat Datuk VS Mogan of BN and Mahfuz Roslan of PAS with a majority of 17,710 votes.