Our man able to beat Mohamad Hasan in Rantau, says PKR’s Rafizi

PKR’s Rafizi Ramli says PH would easily have won the state seat of Rantau if its candidate was allowed to contest.

(FMT) – PKR’s Rafizi Ramli says the party’s hopeful for the Rantau state seat in Negeri Sembilan could easily have won if he was allowed to contest.

This was because Dr S Streram had worked the ground for the past two years in Rantau where support had since shifted to Pakatan Harapan (PH), he said.

“Streram has been knocking on thousands of doors in Rantau over the past two years, working hard. I can say that the Negeri Sembilan menteri besar… would most likely lose,” he said, referring to Barisan Nasional’s candidate for the seat, Mohamad Hasan.

Streram was barred from entering the nomination centre on Saturday as he did not have a candidate pass. He was forcibly removed by the police after attempting to enter the centre anyway.

As a result, Rantau incumbent Mohamad was announced as the first winner in the 14th general election, winning the state seat uncontested.

Rafizi claimed Streram had been “purposely kicked out” as Mohamad and Rembau incumbent Khairy Jamaluddin were “afraid to lose”.

Speaking in Balik Pulau here last night, he added that Rembau had one of the largest Indian majorities in a parliamentary seat at 15%, while the Rantau seat alone had 27% Indian voters.

He also said 80% of the 10% Chinese voters would support Pakatan Harapan (PH).

He said many of the Indians in Rantau were poor and neglected while the Malays were upset over how PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad was being treated.

“Umno always felt that the Chinese and Indian votes are not important because it was confident of getting the Malay vote. This is why we nominated Streram for the job,” he said.

The Election Commission has said it will refrain from commenting on the issue as an internal inquiry and police investigation are ongoing.