Not easy to woo Umno members in ‘Isa home ground’, says PPBM

Independent candidate and former Negeri Sembilan MB Isa Samad distributes campaign leaflets in Port Dickson. (Bernama pic)

PORT DICKSON: Pakatan Harapan supporters have been reminded that it is not easy to get Umno supporters in Negeri Sembilan to back Anwar Ibrahim in the Port Dickson by-election.

“We have to admit that this is Isa Samad’s home ground,” Eddin Syazlee Shith, the Kuala Pilah MP who is also part of the PPBM leadership, told FMT, referring to the former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar who is also contesting in the Oct 13 by-election.

Eddin said many Umno members still have vested interests in the party.

“They are worried that if they leave, these interests may be jeopardised. This we can’t avoid and there is nothing we can do about them,” he said.

“But based on responses, I am confident that we will be able to improve,” he added.

He said PPBM’s state chapter, which was dissolved recently to allow a restructuring of the party, should be strengthened before it could undertake efforts to woo Umno members.

Eddin also warned of a low voter turnout in Port Dickson as some 5,000 voters work outside the state, with most of them based in Singapore.

He said his victory in Kuala Pilah in the May elections was unexpected.

“For sixty years, no opposition party ever won there,” he said.

Anwar, who is seeking to return to Parliament, is seen as the favourite to win the seven-cornered fight in Port Dickson. -FMT