Older folk urge youths in Pulai, Simpang Jeram to come out and vote

 

Abdul Kadir, 76, urged young people in Pulai and Simpang Jeram to come out and cast their ballot in today’s by-elections.

PULAI: Some older voters are encouraging youths to come out and exercise their right to vote, after the low turnout among voters at the Pulai parliamentary by-election so far.

A 76-year-old voter, who gave his name as Abdul Kadir, said he encouraged youths to vote but admitted that he did not see many young people at the voting centre this morning.

“Even my grandson does not want to come back home and vote, even though he is working in Johor Bahru,” Abdul told FMT at SK Seri Melati here.

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He also said he found the voting process to be smooth.

“I was surprised that it took me less than 10 minutes to cast my vote, I expected the queue to be long,” the retiree said.

Meanwhile, Salim, who only gave his first name, said as citizens, it was a duty for young people to vote.

“I was sad to see there weren’t many youngsters here at the voting centre because I expected the place to be full of them,” he told FMT.

The 62-year-old said he understands that youths tend to vote later in the day but added that the weather today does not look promising.

“It’s already raining here and it seems like it won’t stop anytime soon. So, I hope this will not stop them from coming out to vote.

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Meanwhile, Chong Kok Siong, 40, took a day off from work to come back and cast his vote.

“I work on a production line in Singapore, so I applied for leave and came back to cast my vote.

“As a Malaysian, I feel it’s our responsibility to cast our vote,” he said at SJK (C) Tampoi.

As of 11am, the Election Commission said the voter turnout in Pulai was 19%, while in Simpang Jeram, it was 26%.

The by-elections for the Pulai parliamentary seat and Simpang Jeram state seat were called following the death of domestic trade and cost of living minister Salahuddin Ayub on July 23.

Some 831 police officers cast their ballot on Sept 5 in the early vote for Pulai, with a 90% turnout.

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In Pulai, Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Suhaizan Kaiat is facing Zulkifli Jaafar of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and independent candidate Samsudin Fauzi.

Meanwhile, in Simpang Jeram, PH’s Nazri Abdul Rahman is taking on Dr Mazri Yahya of PN and independent candidate S Jeganathan. - FMT