‘Most of those who attended PH event were outsiders’
PORT DICKSON: Port Dickson byelection independent candidate Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad believes that the majority of people who attended the Pakatan Harapan Ceramah Mega Mahathir-Anwar here recently were not from the constituency.
“I believe that the majority of people who came (to the event) that night were outsiders,” he said after meeting the district’s former village chiefs, as well as Village Development and Security Committee members here yesterday.
The former menteri besar said he was unperturbed by what appeared to be the voters’ support for PKR candidate for the by-election, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“The PH event is nothing. What is important is how many Port Dickson residents attended the event. That is important because they are the voters for the byelection.
“To the outsiders, I just want to say welcome to Port Dickson and thank you for helping the economy here.”
It was reported that more than 6,000 people attended the PH event here on Monday, which was also attended by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Isa denied the allegation by former information minister, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, who claimed that Isa was an Umno candidate disguised as independent.
“It is not true. I have said many times before. The reason I quit Umno was because I did not agree with the party and Barisan Nasional’s decision to sit out the byelection.”
Zainudin had previously posted on his Twitter account that Isa was a loyal Umno member and that the party was worried about losing the by-election, and had opted to put Isa as a candidate instead.
Meanwhile, Isa said the 63 per cent voter turnout for early voting yesterday was low.
However, he hoped that the number would increase on polling day, which is on Saturday.
On the aggressive campaigns by some of the candidates, Isa said he did not see the need to do the same, provided everybody was on a level playing field.
He said he used a moderate and friendly campaign approach.