Focus on economy? Anwar can’t face Sg Bakap voters - Ramasamy

SG BAKAP BY-ELECTION | United for Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) pro tem chairperson P Ramasamy has taken a swipe at Anwar Ibrahim after the prime minister said he will not campaign in the Sungai Bakap by-election campaign to focus on solving economic woes.

Speaking to reporters today, Ramasamy claimed that the real reason Anwar will not appear at the Penang state seat’s by-election campaign is because the latter “can’t face the people” as “his administration is full of contradictions”.

“He dared not show up in Sungai Bakap. He knows that Pakatan Harapan’s candidate will lose in Sungai Bakap,” he said during a press conference after launching the party’s Selangor and Federal office in Klang today.

“If Anwar is saying he wants to focus on the economy, why are we having so many problems?

“For instance, the targeted subsidy issue and the price of eggs were reduced by just three sen each… Is that an achievement? What about the price of goods? The ringgit has not been improving against the dollar.”

Therefore, Ramasamy, a former Penang deputy chief minister, said he will spend the coming week telling the Indian community not to vote for Harapan’s candidate Joohari Ariffin in the Sungai Bakap by-election.

“They (Harapan) broke all promises in reforms and all,” he said.

Joohari will go up against Perikatan Nasional’s Abidin Ismail, who is aiming to retain the seat for the opposition coalition.

The electoral roll for the Sungai Bakap state constituency has 39,279 voters comprising 39,222 ordinary electors and 57 police personnel. Malay voters make up 59 percent of all registered voters followed by Chinese (22.5 percent), Indians (17.4 percent) and others (one percent).

Yesterday, Anwar explained that he had handed over campaign duties to friends in the coalition government including Penang PKR deputy chairperson Mohamad Abdul Hamid, according to Bernama.

Skip the ‘taichi’ on Blackrock

Ramasamy also urged Anwar to skip the “taichi” act on the sale of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) shares to a company that will soon be owned by Blackrock - a US-based firm that is linked to Israel and its military.

According to Ramasamy, Anwar on Tuesday told the Dewan Rakyat that Hamas saw no issues on the sale of MAHB stakes to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which is set to be acquired by Blackrock.

“When did Hamas say that they are okay with Blackrock (on the MAHB issue)? Why is he (Anwar) bluffing in Parliament? Hamas is fighting tooth and nail against Israeli aggressors.

“On the one hand, he (Anwar) said he wants to be a champion of Palestinian issues but on the other hand, he said to let him do business with Blackrock.

“I want Anwar to be honest in this country. He should not do all this taichi, song and dance here,” Ramasamy stressed.

The prime minister on Tuesday also told the august house that while it sounds good to cancel all deals with Israel-linked companies, such a move is unrealistic.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin on Friday (June 28) also questioned if Anwar lied to the Parliament on this matter.

However, Muhyiddin said Hamas, a day after Anwar’s comments, issued a statement stating that it supports all boycott actions against Israel.

Referring to Hansard

According to the Dewan Rakyat Hansard, Anwar said the MAHB deal was never mentioned by Hamas leaders when he met them recently.

“It may sound good (to cancel ties with all Israel-linked companies) like we are the champion of the issue, but this is actually unrealistic.

“I had a discussion with Hamas leaders and (this matter) was never raised.

“But there are some people who want to be more Hamas than Hamas. This is our problem,” he was recorded as saying.

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