Chinese support for BN increasing, Zahid claims

Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who met Chinese voters in Tangkak Jaya, Johor, said BN’s 19 non-Malay candidates were considered ‘underdogs’.

LEDANG: Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today that Chinese support for BN was increasing and he hoped that the sentiment would translate to votes in the ballot box.

Zahid said that Chinese voters he met had said they felt their previous assemblymen did not live up to expectations. After meeting Chinese voters in Tangkak Jaya here, he said: “They told me that this time round they will put their trust in BN’s candidates.”

BN is contesting all 56 seats at the Johor election on July 11. Chinese voters comprise 36.7% of the electorate.

Zahid said that BN had fielded 19 non-Malay candidates for the Johor polls but they were considered “underdogs”. However, “it provides really good optics for BN when it comes to Chinese voters.”

On a separate matter, Zahid denied that BN was making use of former prime minister Najib Razak’s case during the polls campaign.

He said “it isn’t an issue in Johor” and that any question of a pardon for Najib lay with the prerogative of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

On Friday night, Najib’s son Nazifuddin had claimed that a major BN victory in the Johor elections would signal that the people continue to support Najib and hope to see him receive a royal pardon.

Najib, 72, is serving a six-year prison sentence in the SRC International case. His jail sentence is scheduled to end on Aug 23, 2028.