KUCHING, Jan 27: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Jemut James Masing believes Pakatan Harapan (PH) lost in the Cameron Highlands by-election because of its failure to keep its election manifesto.
“PH paid the price for not honouring their election promises. Its true that election manifesto is not ‘buku suci’ or the Bible, but a promise is a promise,” said Masing, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, in a statement today.
He said political parties should not “lie” to fish for votes.
“You don’t lie just to get the people’s votes. (Prime Minister) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said ‘we didn’t realise we could win’. So, you promise Malaysians the moon. That’s wrong,” said Masing.
The Cameron Highlands by-election was held yesterday, and Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Ramli Mohd Nor won the by-election with a majority of 3,238 votes against PH’s candidate M. Manogaran.
Ramli garnered 12,038 votes to become the country’s first Orang Asli MP, while Manogaran secured 8,800 votes. Independent candidates Sallehudin Ab Talib polled 314 votes and Wong Sent Yee 276 votes — they both, thus, lost their deposits.
The turnout rate was 68.8 per cent.— DayakDaily
