Nenggiri By-Election: Wooing Voters, An Effective Campaign Approach For BN - Mohamad

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- The campaign method of Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Nenggiri state by-election by courting the public is clearly effective in its efforts to win over voters, said BN deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

Mohamad Hasan who is also UMNO deputy president said that the victory was also the result of the hard work of the BN machinery in Gua Musang under the leadership of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and UMNO Kelantan who mobilised the machinery to meet as many voters as possible in Nenggiri.

"We changed the way we campaign, we don't hold mass talks, (only) by politely going from house to house to convince the voters. This seems to be more effective because we can meet as many voters as possible," he said.

He said this after a courtesy call by Brunei Crown Prince Pengiran Muda Mahkota Al-Muhtadee Billah Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, here today.

Mohamad, who is also the Foreign Minister, said that he himself did not attend the talk but only went from house to house to ask how they were and it turned out that this approach made the voters happy because they were able to express various local problems.

He said the Deputy Prime Minister who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is also trying to solve many problems of the residents, including the issue of the South Kelantan Land Development Board (Kesedar) which has been going on for 48 years.

"After this (we) hope that the new representative, Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani, will be able to bring the problem of land grants in Kesedar which until today has not arrived," he said.

According to Mohamad, the victory of the BN candidate also clearly shows that the people are tired of the way of insulting campaigns, apart from voters who know how to evaluate the developments around them.

"People are not like before, information is at their fingertips, we don't need to slander anyone but explain what we should do and at the same time be able to solve problems. That's what the people want," he said.

Mohd Azmawi, also known as Awie, successfully recaptured the Nenggiri state assembly seat from Perikatan Nasional (PN) by obtaining a majority of 3,352 votes.

The Kelantan UMNO Youth leader obtained 9,091 votes, to beat Mohd Rizwadi Ismail of PAS who represented Perikatan Nasional (PN) with 5,739 votes.          

-- BERNAMA