PONTIAN, Nov 12 — With the Tanjung Piai by-election campaigning entering its second and final week, a sizeable crowd finally turned for Pakatan Harapan (PH) at its events last night headlined by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The ceramah perdana in Pusat Perniagaan Kota Emas saw the biggest crowd to date, numbering more than 600 people. 

Earlier, the PKR president’s speech at Taman Utama in Pekan Nanas drew about 300 people.

At both venues, Anwar spoke of the need for the ruling coalition to urgently address issues relating to the economy as well as problems of Tanjung Piai’s community.

Prior to that, PH ceramahs had only managed anywhere from 50 to over 200 atendees. 

In comparison, the Opposition Barisan Nasional (BN) has been pulling in far bigger numbers of attendees from the first week of campaigning.

At the PH Ceramah Perdana, the 72-year-old Port Dickson MP said he was also surprised by the good crowd turnout at the events.

"I read reports saying that PH’s ceramahs In Tanjung Piai had a low crowd turnout, but tonight I see a lot of people here,” said Anwar to a cheering crowd last night.

He said that the current issues that the country’s leaders need to address were related to the economy.

"The main problem is our economy as the people need income and they in turn need the country’s leaders to focus on the economy,” he said.

Anwar said that he as a leader wanted the country’s economic policy to cater to all Malaysians, including the needy and poor.

"I don’t want a policy that only focuses only on a certain group of people as this country has its constitution and there is no second class citizen,” he said, adding that every Malaysian is equal to him.

The Tanjung Piai by-election is a six-way contest between PH’s Karmaine Sardini, BN’s Datuk Seri Wee Jeck Seng, Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam, Berjasa’s Datuk Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz, and two independent candidates Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abdul Ghaffar.

Polling is scheduled for this Saturday, with early polling today.