UMNO grassroots leaders in Port Dickson are campaigning for their former division chief Isa Samad, defying the party’s ban on members canvassing for any candidate in the by-election there.

Isa quit Umno to contest in the by-election after the party opted to boycott it, and nearly half of Umno’s 53 branches in this garrison town in Negri Sembilan have reportedly come out to canvass for Isa.

Some of them are sponsoring small and intimate “information sharing” gatherings. They say they are doing so to repay what Isa had done for them for 22 years when he was Negri Sembilan MB from 1982 to 2004.

“Tonight, we are ‘taking off’ our Umno shirt,” one branch chief figuratively said.

“No Umno tonight. We are free to help our candidate, the independent candidate.

“When Umno boycotted the election, it means we are free (to help Isa),” he added.

“We are not opposed to Umno or fighting the Barisan Nasional. We are only opposed to PAS and PKR.

“We want to help the man who had contributed so much to us, ” he said.

“If Umno wants to take disciplinary action against us, by all means. It’s just not right that we who have already received so much, would leave Tan Sri Isa on his own,” another branch chief said at a Linggi organised “information sharing” gathering last night.

The majority of the 40 or so people at the gathering were women, believed to be Umno members.

“I can assure you that right here in front of me is our district election machinery,” the branch chief, who refused to reveal his identity, said pointing to the women.

The 60-year-old man said he had assured Isa that the branch members will campaign for him.

Isa has picked a chair as his election logo.

“Out of the 53 Umno branch chiefs in Port Dickson, between 23 to 25 are die-hard Isa supporters.

“Another 12 to 13 are still dithering, undecided and confused. They, on the other hand, are not against Tan Sri contesting, ” he said.

Another branch chief The Malaysian Insight spoke to also confirmed those claims, and he said he had relinquished his post so he could openly help the man who had served the area for 40 years.

“I have already sent my letter of resignation yesterday,” he said.

“It’s just not appropriate as party members, to follow by Tan Sri everywhere in his campaign trail and find ourselves in the newspapers.

“It’s better if I just give up the post, rather than be sacked later, ” he said.

One Umno member who is overtly campaigning for Isa is his eldest son, Mohd Najib, 40, who is Port Dickson Umno Youth chief.

Najib said his task was canvass for support among the young voters.

Without the funding he once enjoyed from Umno, Isa – who was the assemblyman for Linggi and Bagan Pinang, both of which are in the Port Dickson parliamentary constituency – employed the small gathering, low-cost tactic in mostly Malay villages.

In addition to the gatherings, Isa would attend weddings or thanks giving feasts to reach out to the voters.

Apart from funds, the other constraint Isa and his campaign faced is they can’t employ the Umno election apparatus, a branch chief said.

“To reach out to voters is expensive exercise so take advantage of mass gatherings like weddings to get to them.”

Isa is one of five independent candidates in the by-election, that will have seven candidates, including PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

PAS, who is fielding retired Lieutenant Colonel Mohd Nazari Mokhtar, are banking on the support of the army that has a large base there.

Polling day is on October 13, with the early voting on October 9.

This Port Dickson parliamentary seat has 75,770 voters – 68,486 ordinary voters, 6,690 military personnel and 578 from the police.

In the May general election, former naval officer Danyal Balagopal Abdullah won the seat – PKR’s sole parliamentary seat in Negeri Sembilan – with 36,225 votes beating Barisan Nasional’s Mogan Velayatham of MIC (18,515 votes), and PAS’ Mahfuz Roslan (6,594 votes).

Danyal however, vacated the seat for Anwar who is attempting to return to Parliament and the premiership when Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad steps down in two years. – October 3, 2018.