MUAR, Sept 2 — Umno voters are urged not to be influenced by calls from irresponsible parties to boycott the Pulai parliamentary by-election and Simpang Jeram state by-election on Sept 9.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said Umno voters, who are known as loyal voters, need to set aside the differences between the parties in the Unity Government and give their full backing to the government's candidate.

"We must back Pakatan Harapan (PH) because we hope they too will support us in the Pelangai state by-election (in Pahang) and this is the first step of the cooperation between the various parties to support our candidate. We are certainly hoping for victory to continue to stabilise the state government in Johor and (Federal government) in Putrajaya,” he said.

He said this at a media conference after the launch of the Sentuhan Kasih Desa @ Simpang Jeram: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Rural Entrepreneurship Mini Expo programme in Sungai Abong, which was also attended by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

Ahmad Zahid said he also does not want voters in the by-election this time to fall for the opposition's propaganda, which is trying to confuse the public with the 3R issue of race, religion and royalty, especially among the Malay voters.

However, he is confident that Johor Umno liaison committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin and Onn Hafiz will mobilise the party's machinery to dispel all confusion and dismiss all allegations which the opposition is trying to raise.

Commenting on the issue of cooperation between BN and DAP, which is frequently played up by the opposition during campaigning, Ahmad Zahid said they (the opposition) should realise that they too once did the same thing.

"Ask them first because they used to cooperate with DAP, ask PAS how many times (they have) cooperated with DAP, why issue a different fatwa now, this fatwa is from which hadith? The same with Bersatu, we have seen them cooperate with DAP during the previous Pakatan Harapan government 1.0.

"In such a situation, they deliberately want to confuse the public... but (they must) remember that Johor voters are different, they are more committed and will never fall for any propaganda,” he said.

The Pulai parliamentary by-election and Simpang Jeram state by-election are being held following the death of its incumbent Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub on July 23.

PH is counting on former Johor state assembly Speaker Suhaizan Kaiat in the Pulai parliamentary by-election, where he faces Zulkifli Jaafar of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Independent candidate Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi.

In the Simpang Jeram state seat by-election, PH is fielding Bakri Amanah division deputy chief Nazri Abdul Rahman, who will be up against PN's Dr Mohd Mazri Yahya, a vascular consultant and endovascular surgeon, as well as an Independent, S. Jeganathan, a businessman. — Bernama