PD POLLS DAY 7 | Campaigning by the seven candidates running in the Port Dickson by-election continues today.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the campaigning on the ground.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
- Isa Samad takes his time at night market to meet and greet
- Rapturous welcome for Anwar at pasar malam
- PD win will bolster efforts for New Malaysia: Kit Siang
- Mahathir will campaign for Anwar
- Saiful, Chan criticises Anwar for purported use of government machinery
- PAS candidate tells voters to vote for 'moon' in absence of dacing logo
- Drinks on Kit Siang, Anwar tells kopitiam customers
- Lim Kit Siang campaigns for Anwar, says voters are lucky to have future PM as MP
PAS finally raises its flags, under the cover of night
10pm Linggi
PAS has finally put up its party flags in the federal constituency.
Party workers are seen working at night to erect the flags along the main road to Linggi, the two out of five state seats under Port Dickson held by Umno.
Its candidate Mohd Nazari Mokhtar admits earlier that the party was slow in engaging the election machinery.
Linggi is the Malay-majority state seat that Umno only won by a slim majority of 623 votes.
Isa Samad takes his time at night market to meet and greet
8.30pm: Bandar Sunggala pasar malam
Just a few hours after Pakatan Harapan candidate Anwar Ibrahim swept through the pasar malam, his opponent independent candidate Mohd Isa Abdul Samad is also making a stop here.
The crowd at the pasar malam is smaller than it was earlier and there are significantly fewer people clamouring to shake hands and take pictures with the former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar.
Unlike Anwar’s whirlwind tour through the pasar malam, Mohd Isa stops to say a few words to most of the people he shakes hands with.
A few of them he even greets like old friends, including a trader clad in a blue BN shirt with the 1Malaysia logo.
“I haven’t run away yet,” the man said a few times, while pointing to the 1Malaysia logo on his shirt.
Mohd Isa had quit Umno to contest as an independent after the party boycotted this by-election.
However, he also did not make stops at every corner of the pasar malam. A member of his team explained to Malaysiakini that not all the traders there are Port Dickson voters.
As a local, the team member said he knows who are Port Dickson voters and as such, he can direct Mohd Isa to only greet voters.
Raptous welcome for Anwar at pasar malam
6.30pm: Bandar Sunggala pasar malam - Pakatan Harapan candidate Anwar Ibrahim is mobbed by the people at the pasar malam when he arrives.
He walks quickly through the narrow lanes between the stalls, shaking hands and stopping to take pictures with the people.
A man dressed in his military uniform went up to shake hands and take a picture with Anwar but another man in military uniform declined to take a picture Anwar.
When asked why by a member of Anwar’s entourage, he cited the fact that he was still in his uniform.
As Anwar reaches the exit of the pasar malam, a trader there tells members of his entourage that she has been “chasing” Anwar to take a picture with him.
She finally gets to take a picture with Anwar just before he leaves says excitedly to all around: “I won’t be able to sleep soundly tonight.”
Earlier, before Anwar arrived, members of his entourage held up the Harapan banner by the roadside.
A car driving past started honking and a woman from inside the car yells, “Yes, yes, yes, of course” and gives a thumbs up sign.
Harapan won the Bandar Sunggala polling district in the last general election by a slim 70-vote majority.
PD win will bolster efforts for New Malaysia: Kit Siang
2.30pm: Port Dickson - Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang opines that a Pakatan Harapan win in the coming Port Dickson polls will serve as "solid endorsement" for the New Malaysia formed after the May 9 general election.
"The building of New Malaysia and the undoing of the corruption, abuses of power, injustices and repression of the past decades cannot be accomplished in one hundred days or five months.
"It is a sacred mission and task which needs the support of more and more Malaysians and may take a decade or two," Lim says in a statement.
The DAP supremo adds that a Harapan win will also enable the constituency to be returned to its former glory as a premier tourist destination.
Anwar slammed for alleged use of gov't machinery
1.15pm: Port Dickson Waterfront - Independent candidate Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan and Stevie Chan are taking Pakatan Harapan candidate Anwar Ibrahim for his alleged use of government machinery when campaigning.
The criticism follows the announcement from electoral watchdog that that five out of the seven candidates, including Anwar, have signed the pledge to support free and fair elections.
Anwar has also previously pledged not to use government machinery during his campaign trail.
For the full story: Read Independents criticise Anwar for 'using gov't machinery' to campaign
1.10pm: Kuala Lumpur - Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announces that he will be campaigning in Port Dickson on behalf of Anwar Ibrahim.
The premier says during a press conference that this is to dispel the rumours of a rift between the two leaders.
For the full story: Read Dr M to campaign for Anwar in PD to dispel talk of rift
PAS candidate: No dacing logo so vote for 'moon'
12pm: Taman Intan Perdana - PAS candidate Mohd Nazari Mokhtar reminded Umno and BN supporters yesterday that they will find no dacing logo when casting their ballot this time around, as BN has opted out of contesting in Port Dickson.
As such, he tells them during a ceramah here last night that they have no choice this polls but to vote for PAS.
"That is my special message to friends of Umno-BN.
"If you want to vote for BN, go ahead, but let me tell you, you will not find the dacing (BN's logo)... with no dacing, (you) have no other choice but to keep the moon (PAS's logo) floating in Port Dickson and throughout Negeri Sembilan," says Nazari, who is also a retired lieutenant colonel of the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
Running with the moon analogy, Nazari says the beaches of Port Dickson will continue to shine bright, and adds: "In our hearts, there is also a moon. Insya Allah, we will be a voice in Parliament."
Drinks on Kit Siang, Anwar tells kopitiam customers
11.20am: Lukut - Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang meet the voters at DS Kopitiam.
Anwar greets Chinese folk having their breakfast in the restaurant by speaking simple Mandarin, much to their enthusiasm.
"Now is the time to develop Port Dickson, there will be a hotel-building project at Si Rusa and we will clean the beach and create more jobs for the local, especially for the younger generation,"said Anwar.
"Now, Kit Siang, Mahathir, Mat Sabu and I, all of us are united together to lead the country forward. But Mahathir or Mat Sabu is not the most important thing, the most important thing is the benefits for the people.
"We united together to support Mahathir to become the PM so that all the people can enjoy benefits.
"Dear friends, enjoy your drinks. If you have not had enough, Kit Siang will pay for you. I am the candidate so I can't pay for you, or they will say that this is a bribe," Anwar quipped.
Lim Kit Siang campaigns for Anwar, says voters are lucky to have future PM as MP
9.40am: Lukut - DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang arrives at Medan Selera Lukut to campaign for Anwar Ibrahim.
The elderly patrons greet him happily, eagerly snapping photos and asking for selfies.
The food court is packed with over 200 people, mainly Chinese residents, eager to see him.
"Lukut and Port Dickson have become famous recently as they appear in the papers every day. But we don't want to be famous for a short while only to be forgotten after the by-election.
"If our MP for Port Dickson is the future PM within a few years, Lukut and Port Dickson will become among the most important places in the country," Lim tells the crowd.
Lukut assemblyperson Choo Ken Hwa, meanwhile, reminds the crowd to ensure family members working or studying elsewhere to return to vote and ensure Anwar Ibrahim "wins big".
