Singapore-born star raring to vote
Singapore-born actor and newly-minted citizen of this country is a strong Barisan Nasional supporter
SINGAPORE-BORN Datuk Adi Putra, who recently confirmed that he was now a Malaysian citizen, cannot wait to vote for the first time in the 14th General Election next week.
The 37-year-old KL Gangster star, whose real name is Mohamed Hadi Putera Abdul Halim, said that he was a strong Barisan Nasional supporter, and had attended several ceramah by candidates in the Klang Valley over the last few days.
“As a new Malaysian, I’m eager to exercise my right as a citizen to determine my leaders.
“My friends in showbiz, my neighbours and relatives have different political choices, but what’s important is we all get to vote our representatives of our own free will,” he said in a recent Instagram post, on which he displayed his Malaysian identity card.
Adi, who will appear in a film about the 1890s Malay warrior from Pahang, Mat Kilau, next year, said he was thankful to Malaysia’s leaders for improving the people’s lives and “chose blue” as a “thank you” gesture to them.
“Blue is the colour of the sea that surrounds us, and we’ve got a good team of leaders who competently sail the ship that’s our country,” added Adi.
He said that voting was a personal matter and voters should “agree to disagree” and remain friends after casting their votes on May 9.
“People may disagree with my choices, but I’m okay with that.
“But we should not let political differences become enmity. Instead, we should stay united as Malaysians.”
Adi revealed last month that he had obtained Malaysian citizenship more than a year ago.
He arrived in Kuala Lumpur in 2002 and initially wanted to remain a Singapore citizen.
He soon fell in love with Malaysia’s warm, beautiful and charming people and rich cultural heritage and decided to possess dual citizenship, but this was not possible.
After much thought, Adi chose to be a Malaysian because of better job prospects here.