Zahid: Jamal's towel stunt shows his courage in speaking for the rakyat

GE15 | Previous stunts conducted by BN's Sungai Besar candidate Jamal Yunos, including showing up at the Selangor state assembly in a towel to protest water cuts, may cause him to be dismissed as a clown.

But for BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, this is proof of his commitment to be the voice of the people.

"We all know who Jamal is. He is the person who was willing to go out into the public in a towel during water cuts," he said to titters from an audience of about 200 people during a ceramah in Sungai Besar last night.

"I don't know if whatever that was under the towel had been cleaned or not, but what is important is that this shows his exceptional courage."

In 2016, Jamal, flanked by his supporters, arrived at the gates of the Selangor state assembly building in Shah Alam, wearing just a towel.

He also carried a water scoop with bottles of toiletries and placed a toothbrush behind his ear, to protest the water cuts - a stunt that earned him the nickname Jamal Jamban (Toilet Jamal).

List of court cases

Deftly turning Jamal's baggage into assets, Zahid added that the various defamation lawsuits and criminal cases involving the Sungai Besar Umno division leader are proof that he has no fear when it comes to raising issues important to the people.

Among others, in 2018, Jamal was charged with leaving the country through an unauthorised route.

He absconded from the country to escape being charged with mischief when he smashed liquor bottles with a hammer in front of the Selangor state assembly building that year.

In 2020, he was charged with posting an offensive video on Facebook but was acquitted of this on Aug 10 this year.

On Aug 30, he lost his appeal to set aside a verdict for him to pay RM150,000 in damages to incumbent Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah in a defamation lawsuit.

Last week, incumbent Seputeh MP Teresa Kok urged the Election Commission to disqualify Jamal's candidacy, because she has commenced bankruptcy proceedings against him for not paying damages of RM300,000 in a defamation lawsuit.

'I never lobbied to be acquitted'

Zahid said people liken politicians like Jamal and himself to being in a "court cluster" because of their pending cases, but this does not mean they are in the wrong.

He noted that he himself had 87 charges pending, but in September, was acquitted of 40 charges, in the corruption case in connection with foreign visas.

"I never asked for anyone to free me; there were no negotiations or lobbies because I knew I was in the right.

"Don't fear, Jamal. I am here for you," Zahid said.

Zahid also reminded voters that Jamal had for years served the people of Sungai Besar and Sekinchan, even though he has not been elected, including in securing the release of ethnic Chinese fishermen who were held in Indonesia in 2016.

"This shows that he is colourblind when it comes to helping those in need, it doesn't matter if you're Malay, Chinese, Indian, Javanese or Banjarese," he said, referring to the two sub-ethnic communities in Sungai Besar.

Keeping the musang out of the coop

Peppering his speech with Javanese language, Zahid said this is the reason he had made Sungai Besar among his first campaign stop outside of Perak.

He also apologised for taking so long to leave his home state, saying he needed to first secure his position in Bagan Datuk, where he is contesting.

"I had to ensure all my chickens are safe in the coop, and that the musang (civet cat) won't come in to attack them," he quipped.

He also congratulated in advance the winners of the lucky draw which was held later that night.

The prizes included a Yamaha Y16 motorcycle worth at least RM10,000, a refrigerator, various electrical goods and food hampers.

Zahid said this was proof of how lucky voters in Sungai Besar are to have someone like Jamal fielded there.

"In Bagan Datuk, we don't have money to buy motorcycles (for lucky draw prizes)," he joked.

The Election Offences Act states that giving money or "valuable consideration" or "gift" to voters to induce them to vote is an offence.

Jamal, 52, is contesting the seat for the first time.

He is going up against incumbent Muslimin Yahaya from Perikatan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan's Saipolyazan Mat Yusop and Putra's Asmawar Samad.

In GE14, Muslimin, who was campaigning with Harapan at the time, won by a razor-thin majority of 714 votes in a three-way tussle with BN and PAS.

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