GUA MUSANG: All party machinery must intensify efforts to counter the insults and slander directed at Barisan Nasional by the opposition during the Nenggiri by-election campaign.
Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said it was common for Perikatan Nasional to attack BN, including making false claims about how the diesel price increase affected the Orang Asli community.
"PN has been using this issue to slander BN and the government, and they leveraged it to win the recent Sungai Bakap by-election.
"They are employing the same tactics here to attract voters. However, I believe the people of Gua Musang, including those in Nenggiri and the Orang Asli community, are quite rational."
Zahid, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, said the public has already accepted the government's explanation regarding diesel subsidy rationalisation.
He added that BN was confident that the voters at all five Orang Asli polling stations and in the surrounding villages would not be swayed by the opposition's tactics.
Zahid said the party's machinery had been told to double their efforts to counter such insults against BN.
"We want our machinery to go to the voters and explain to them about the truth.
"We realise that PN in their ceramah has been saying bad things about BN, but this will not hamper our spirit to win the state seat," he added.
BN recently named Kelantan Umno Youth chief Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani as its candidate for the Aug 17 by-election.
The Nenggiri by-election was called after Kelantan Speaker Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah declared the seat, previously held by Mohd Azizi Abu Naim vacant.
Mohd Azizi, who is also the Gua Musang member of Parliament, was among the seven elected representatives dismissed from Bersatu for supporting the unity government.
In the Kelantan state election held in August last year, Mohd Azizi won Nenggiri with a narrow majority of 810 votes in a straight fight against a BN candidate.