Muhyiddin Yassin today reminded the Barisan Nasional election machinery to be prepared to defeat opposition's dirty tactics in the campaign for the Bagan Pinang state by-election.

The deputy prime minister said the opposition was now under pressure and had started to employ dirty tactics during the nomination day yesterday.

bagan pinang by election nomination 031009 muhyiddin yasin "They have shown their true colour. We receive feedback that the opposition is now under pressure because we have a far more popular candidate," he told reporters after opening the Larut Umno delegates' meeting.

He was referring to an incident yesterday where Umno supreme council member Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim was punched by several men believed to be opposition supporters.

The by-election on Oct 11 will see a straight fight between former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Mohd Isa Samad of BN and Negeri Sembilan PAS commissioner Zulkefly Mohamad Omar.

Muhyiddin, who is Umno deputy president, said among the dirty tactics used by the opposition was distributing a fabricated letter to support their claim that there were conflicts within Umno on the choice of candidate.

Umno and BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor had denied that he had written a letter to Negeri Sembilan Umno asking them to choose Isa as the candidate.

Tengku Adnan said that the letter, bearing the letterhead of his office and purportedly signed by him, was false.

He described the distribution of the letter as a dirty tactic employed by the opposition to cause a rift among Umno headquarters, Umno supreme council members and state Umno as well as Teluk Kemang Umno division.

Don't take things for granted

azlan Muhyiddin said that apart from resorting to such a tactic, the opposition would continue to use stereotyping tactics by raising issues and exploit them to the fullest.

He said that the opposition had been using such tactics in elections.

"I have reminded the Umno and BN machinery to be prepared to face these tactics. We have already moved in and the response from the voters is good; but we should not take things for granted," he said.

What was important, he said, was to convey accurate information so that the voters would not be influenced by the opposition.

Asked how far the tactics would have a bearing on the by-election's result, he said, the BN was confident of retaining the seat but it would not let the opposition to continue misleading the voters.

Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said his party will be going all out to woo voters of all races in Bagan Pinang and not just concentrate on the Chinese community.

Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, said the Pakatan Rakyat component parties would campaign as a team in the Bagan Pinang by-election to secure support from all races.

"We want a mindset change and look at all voters as Malaysians," he told reporters after opening Federal Territory DAP's annual convention in Kuala Lumpur today. - Bernama