DAP chides DPM over ‘don’t return to vote if unable to take leave’ call

SIBU: DAP state Women chief Irene Chang says the call by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to Malaysians working in Singapore not to return to vote if they cannot take leave on May 9 is an obvious attempt by the caretaker government to encourage low voter turnout in the 14th general election (GE14).

She said it also indicated that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition had a “real possibility of taking over” Putrajaya and forming the new government.

“I call on all Sarawakians working and staying outside the state to play your part in defining the process of change in our country by defying Zahid’s call and travel back to vote against corruption, unemployment, abuse of power, mismanagement of our country’s resources and all other excesses,” she said during a press conference here yesterday.

Chang was responding to a report in an online news portal which quoted Zahid as saying in a press conference: “We have announced a public holiday on voting day, so it is up to them if they want to come back to vote or otherwise. In my view, the government neither encourages nor discourages (returning to vote) as that is an individual right.

“But if the employer from the said country (Singapore) does not permit (their Malaysian workers to take leave), then I think the best thing to do is to not come back to vote.”

The Bukit Assek assemblywoman said GE14 is the best chance for Sarawakians to take charge and lead the transformation of Malaysia.

She added that voters in Sarawak are kingmakers who can be ‘agents of change’, and should avoid being trapped in the politics of fundamental needs and look beyond the immediate gratification provided by ‘election goodies’ handed out by Barisan Nasional (BN) during every election.

Chang also urged voters not to be duped by the repeated claims made by SUPP and other BN component parties that the state BN needs a clean sweep of the 31 parliamentary seats in order to have a stronger and bigger say in the federal government.