CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Voters in Cameron Highlands have been urged to not take the easy approach by assuming that the Barisan Nasional would be able to defend the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat in the by-election this time around.
DAP secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng said despite the fact that their political foe has a 4,100 vote majority advantage, it should nevertheless be denied by voters here on polling day this Saturday.
“That (BN’s claim that they have a 4,100 vote majority) was also taken into account by us. Some are saying that Pas is supporting Umno. It does not matter if the BN says that they are going to win.
“Do we try to take a defeatist approach? It cannot be like that. Yes, we know that this is a BN seat, and this is their stronghold. However, no matter how tough this is, we need to win it for the people of Cameron Highlands,” he said.
The 4,100 vote majority mentioned by Guan Eng is in reference to the majority vote by which BN won the Cameron Highlands seat in the previous general election and added by the 3,500 vote garnered by the Pas candidate in the 14th General Election (GE14).
He called upon voters to ensure PH candidate M. Manogaran is elected this Saturday to enable the necessary developments take place in the constituency.
“Cameron Highlands needs to change and become better. We need more development for our children. What can the BN do? We do not want to develop one person but we want to develop all the voters in Cameron Highlands.
“We did not mean that in the event if we did not win, we would not assist, no, but we want the candidate who wins (the by-election) is the one who is with us (PH), “ he said in his speech at the PH ceramah (talk) held at Tanah Rata here last night.
Guan Eng was also hopeful that voters outside the constituency, especially the younger voters would return home and cast their ballots this Saturday to give a brighter chance to PH candidate M.Manogaran to win the seat.
“This is a tough fight for PH. If all the young people outside (the constituency) could return home, we can win.
“Please call our voters outside the constituency to return home and cast their ballots for the sake of Cameron Highlands’ development,” he said.
Meanwhile, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang acknowledged that PH faces a tough prospect in wresting the Cameron Highlands seat but nevertheless there is still a chance.
“Even though the support received (by PH) was strong, it is still tough for us (to win). I am not that confident. If we are going to win in Cameron Highlands, it’s going to be quite difficult.
“However, last year, on May 9, we created history. We changed the government. We kicked out Umno and BN, we ejected Najib from Putrajaya, PH became the Federal Government. On that day, how many would have predicted that we could win?” Kit Siang asked.
In the previous polls, PH eventually won and showed to the world what the people’s power was all about, even though it failed to win in Cameron Highlands, Kit Siang said.
“If we win this Saturday, it will become a more meaningful victory and a bigger victory than that achieved in the 14th General Election,” he said.-- Report by Shaarani Ismail, Rizanizam Abdul Hamid and Mohd Nasaruddin Parz.