JERLUN ― The sleepy little town of Jerlun became jam- packed tonight when thousands of people turned up to listen to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad speak at the “Jelajah Pakatan Harapan” (PH) ceramah.
Cars were seen parked by the side of the street as far as 500 metres away from Dataran Haji Salleh Lebai Junus where the ceramah took place.
Dr Mahathir called upon the crowd to cast their ballots for the Opposition coalition instead of Barisan Nasional and PAS, particularly targeting the Islamist party and accusing them of receiving money from their “political party ally”.
“If you listen to (former PAS member) Mat Sabu, he said he the party never had money. He lost all his chest hair climbing up coconut trees to put up PAS banners. Now they can just hire someone to put up their flags.
“Where do you think they got the money if not from their political ally? A party they once called kafirs but now they’re the best of friends,” said Dr Mahathir in his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir’s stomping grounds.
This is the first time Dr Mahathir has spoken in Kedah mainland. Prior to speaking in the constituency where his son is contesting, the PH chairman has only addressed Kedahan voters in the Langkawi parliamentary constituency where he is contesting.
Earlier, his son PPBM deputy president Mukhriz lambasted Kedah caretaker Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah for saying that the former is no longer lemah-lembut (soft) and has now started to insult others.
The Jerlun parliamentary candidate corrected Ahmad Bashah saying that he was never soft but was taught by his mother Tun Dr Siti Hasmah to be polite and gentle (sopan-santun).
“I’ve never said I was soft… I admit to be polite and gentle but I’ve never been weak, I’ve never been soft. I was raised by my mother to be gentle and polite. However, such gentleness can quickly become firm and fierce if there are those who verbally attacked me.
“I became firm and fierce because they (Ahmad Bashah) were the ones who started it. He (Ahmad Bashah) called a press conference and made (untrue) allegations and accusations against me. He (led a group) who wanted to bring me down because he wanted to become Kedah Mentri Besar,” Mukhriz.
The former Kedah Mentri Besar was addressing a crowd more than 5,000 strong together with his father, Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir at Jelajah Pakatan Harapan here tonight.
He also accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) led government of influencing the Election Commission (EC) of practicing racism in the latest redelineation exercise.
“The new redelineation exercise has polarised the population on a racial level. The Chinese and the Malays have been separated according to racial lines because Umno believes it can win more seats when there are more Malay-dominated areas.
“This can lead to racial sentiments,” Mukhriz said.
MALAY MAIL
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