Nur Jazlan: Umno has pursued Malay support, time for DAP to do the same with Chinese voters for Pakatan win

JOHOR BARU, Sept 8 — Johor Umno’s Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said today that the Malay nationalist party had done its part to convince and encourage Johor’s Malay voters ahead of the twin by-elections tomorrow.

He now said that it is DAP’s turn to do the same with ethnic Chinese voters in order for Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate Suhaizan Kayat to prevail against Perikatan Nasional (PN).

“I hope that Suhaizan will not forget that it was the Pulai Umno members who led him to meet the Malay grassroots community who were staunchly against PH. So now it is up to the PH election machinery, especially DAP, to work harder in the final moments by tapping into their Chinese voter fixed deposit in Pulai and encouraging as many as possible to vote.

“DAP has to ensure that the Pulai seat, held by their PH ally Amanah, does not fall to rivals PN,” he wrote on Facebook.

Over the past two weeks, the Pulai parliament and Simpang Jeram state by-election campaign has been a testbed for PH and BN in what can be described as a political cooperation between two former foes to gather support from the majority Malay community.

Nur Jazlan, a former three-term Pulai MP, said there are no major local issues on development, public facilities, infrastructure or economy in the parliamentary constituency that can be used by PN to their advantage.

He assured PH that many of the issues in Pulai have been resolved during his time as MP, where the constituency also grew at a rapid pace.

However, Nur Jazlan reminded the constituents, especially the Chinese voters, that BN paid a huge price for the rapid development as many constituents are now detached from and take for granted those who were once responsible for the development.

“These constituents will not have any attachments to the past as they are more attracted to having an individual political style with a different opinion,” he said.

Nur Jazlan also told non-Malay voters that PH still needs Umno to rule as the Malays are still deeply politically distrustful of other ethnic groups.

“Only Umno can be the bridge that connects PH with the government. If not, the other alternative is PAS,” he warned.

The Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state by-elections are being held tomorrow following the death of incumbent Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub who was also the minister of domestic trade and cost of living on July 23.