Tun M sings Happy Birthday to a reporter covering GE15
ALOR SETAR: It’s not every day that one gets a former prime minister wishing them a happy birthday, let alone sing them a birthday song.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad did just that. He surprised a journalist with a birthday song after casting his vote at the SK Titi Gajah polling centre here.
Dr Mahathir and his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali were approached by journalists who had been waiting at the polling centre since 7.30am yesterday.
After speaking to the press, a journalist in the group mentioned that it was Astro Awani’s video journalist Noorshifa Ahmad’s birthday.
Dr Mahathir then broke out into a birthday song for Noorshifa, who turned 28 yesterday.
The Langkawi parliamentary candidate and his wife arrived at the polling centre at 10.50am yesterday. They spent about 10 minutes casting their votes.
When asked by reporters, Dr Mahathir of Pejuang, said the voting process went smoothly.
“I went to two polling centres in Langkawi earlier; not many people were there yet, maybe because it was still early,” he said.
Dr Mahathir, however, said that compared to the previous elections, he found that people were eager to come out and vote this time around.
“It is good to see such spirit displayed by voters, and they should come out early and fulfil their responsibilities as citizens when the weather is fine,” he noted.
He faced Datuk Armishah Siraj of Barisan Nasional, Datuk Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah (Perikatan Nasional), Zabidi Yahya (Pakatan Harapan), and independent candidate Datuk Abd Kadir Sainudin in a five-cornered battle.
Earlier at SJKC Peng Min, Barisan candidate for Alor Setar Tan Chee Hiong was among the early birds who turned up at 8am to cast his vote.
Tan praised the candidates contesting in the constituency for conducting a mature political campaign during the two-week campaigning period.
“This is a good sign of a healthy democracy in our country,” he said.
Tan’s contenders were Perikatan’s Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden, Datuk Mohamad Nuhairi Rahmat of Pejuang, Datuk Fadzil Hanafi from Warisan, Pakatan’s Simon Ooi Tze Min and independent candidates
Datuk Nordin Yunus and Sofan Feroza Md Yusup.
Meanwhile, there was some panic at the SJKC Peng Min when a mother-daughter pair were stopped from entering the polling centre after they were identified as being Covid-19 positive.
They were about to enter the centre at about 9am yesterday when Election Commission (EC) workers told them to wait at the front gate of the school.
“We were not sure what to do; luckily there were two health personnel on standby here,” said one of the EC personnel who wanted to remain anonymous.
The duo were ushered to Channel 1, where they were allowed to skip the queue and cast their votes. They took about 10 minutes and were escorted out of the centre by EC personnel.