UMNO did not play the race card to win the Cameron Highlands by-election yesterday, said former prime minister Najib Razak, adding that the party was merely defending Malay rights, as well as the rights of others.
He said that if Umno had banked on Malay votes by playing up racial issues, Barisan Nasional candidate Ramli Mohd Nor would not have received any support from Chinese and Indian voters.
“I do not accept the argument that we used the race card to win. We never used race as a tool. We defend Malays and others.
“If we had played the race card, what about the Chinese and Indian voters who voted for us? It is unlikely they would have voted for us in that case.
“Umno does not stand on the race platform,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
BN candidate Ramli won the parliamentary seat yesterday by defeating Pakatan Harapan’s M. Manogaran and two independents.
The by-election also saw Umno and PAS working together in garnering the Malay support for Ramli.
Manogaran yesterday blamed his defeat on Umno and PAS raising racial issues.
The DAP candidate was previously defeated in Cameron Highlands in the 2013 and 2018 general elections.
The results of the last general election was annulled by the election court after finding that BN’s winning candidate C Sivarraajh had been involved in money politics and vote buying to win.
Yesterday Ramli obtained 12,038 votes to defeat Manogaran with a majority of 3,238 votes.
Najib’s role in the campaign was vital in ensuring Orang Asli support for Ramli. – January 27, 2019.
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