Amir Khusyairi not fazed by presence of Umno's big guns in Slim
SLIM POLLS | Independent candidate Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi (above), who is backed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad's faction, said he is unperturbed by the presence of top Umno personalities to support its candidate Mohd Zaidi Aziz.
Only two days into the by-election campaign, BN has already seen several top leaders dropping into the area to support Zaidi...
SLIM POLLS | Independent candidate Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi (above), who is backed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad's faction, said he is unperturbed by the presence of top Umno personalities to support its candidate Mohd Zaidi Aziz.
Only two days into the by-election campaign, BN has already seen several top leaders dropping into the area to support Zaidi.
Last Friday, a day before nomination day, Umno information chief Shamsul Anuar Nasarah had visited locals in the polling district. The following day, Umno president Zahid Hamidi, ex-premier Najib Abdul Razak, and Umno Youth leaders Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki and Shahril Hamdan turned up to campaign.
This was followed by a trio of ministers in Khairy Jamaluddin, Hishammuddin Hussein, and Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who appeared yesterday.
Nonetheless, Amir is not worried and says he has received full support from Pakatan Harapan leaders, although they have yet to join him in the campaign.
Yesterday, only Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik was seen accompanying him to visit locals at Trolak Utara. It was learned that Mukhriz Mahathir and Amanah's Mahfuz Omar were also in Slim, but only to attend a closed-door meeting.
However, according to Amir, the rest of the Harapan leaders would come to support him.
"Although I'm contesting as an independent candidate, they have contacted me to let me know of their support since Aug 13.
"Some had contacted me, while the others had informed our machinery. They said they had agreed to support me and were ready to plan some programmes for me.
"I told them: just bring yourself here and we will prepare a programme for you."
Speculation is rife as to what extent Harapan would support Amir and the new party Pejuang which, according to Mahathir, is not aligned to Perikatan Nasional or Harapan. Pejuang has yet to be registered as a party.
Previously, Perak PKR was interested to contest in this by-election before Harapan decided to give way to the Mahathir faction.
"When my name was announced as the candidate on Aug 12, all Harapan leaders had expressed their support for us.
"They include Tanjong Malim MP Chang Lih Kang, DAP's Anthony Loke, and Amanah's Mat (Mohamad) Sabu, and more importantly, Tun Mahathir and Mukhriz.
"I would be lying if I say that Harapan did not support me," Amir said.
The Slim by-election was called following the demise of Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib from heart failure in July.
During the 14th general election in 2018, Mohd Khusairi won the seat by defeating Bersatu's Mohd Amran Ibrahim and PAS' Muhammad Zulfadli Zainal by a majority of 2,183 votes.
The polling is set for Aug 29, with early voting to take place on Aug 25.
Other than Amir, the other independent candidate is S Santharasekaran.
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