KEMAMAN: The Kemaman parliamentary seat by-election is a 'golden' opportunity for voters to pledge their support for Barisan Nasional's (BN) Gen (Rtd) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor to put an end to Pas' dominance in Terengganu.
Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said prior to the by-election, all the eight parliamentary seats including Kemaman and the 32 state seats belonged to Pas, but now, is the time to make a difference.
"I appeal to the people in Kemaman to give Affandi (Raja Mohamed Affandi) an opportunity. He is not an outsider but someone from Kemaman who is experienced and can be the voice of the people here....he can easily mingle with the people.
"Pas has dominated all the state and parliamentary seats so why not give one (Kemaman) to Affandi so the people here will benefit. We need to have checks and balances in the state," he told reporters after the ziarah Kasih programme at Kampung Tuan here, today.
Johari, who is BN's treasurer-general and Titiwangsa member of parliament, had visited the constituency as part of his campaign for BN in the Kemaman by-election. Polling is on Dec 2.
Meanwhile, Johari said the candidate fielded by Pas is none other than the Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar who can remain focused on managing state affairs.
"He can continue looking into the state constituencies across the state... there are 32 constituencies (to manage). Affandi's win will be good for the people in Kemaman and also the people in Terengganu..so there will be a federal government representative.
"Victory in Kemaman will ensure the issues here are heard and there is cooperation between the members of parliament in the unity government where we share issues to be raised...there is no representative from Terengganu, but it will be good if we get one to raise critical issues to be highlighted in the budget," he said.
On the campaign in Kemaman, Johari said everything was progressing smoothly and the voter's acceptance towards Affandi has been encouraging.
"Although Affandi is a former armed forces chief, he is a down to earth person who can be given the mandate to be in parliament," he said.
The Kemaman parliamentary seat by-election is a straight fight between Ahmad Samsuri and Raja Mohamed Affandi, who was picked to represent BN in the Dec 2 polls.
The by-election was called following the decision of the Terengganu Election Court on Sept 26 to annul the victory of Pas candidate Che Alias Hamid in the 15th general election (GE15).
Pas managed a clean sweep of the parliamentary seats in Terengganu in GE15, winning all eight and securing all 32 state seats for the first time during the state polls in August.