SEMENYIH residents think it will be better if former prime minister Najib Razak used his time in the constituency to explain the “slander” against him instead of taking selfies with the people.

For a man facing 42 charges in court, Najib should explain his corruption scandal, which might help Barisan Nasional in the ongoing Semenyih by-election, Ismail Othman said.

The 45-year-old man said the people also wanted to hear his explanations.

“That would be better. Voters here are sick of hearing the same thing, hearing this party slam another party.

“To us, all political parties are the same,” the factory worker from Beranang told The Malaysian Insight when met during Najib’s walkabout in the market this morning.

He said he had gone to see Najib campaign twice in Semenyih. The first was at Najib’s ceramah on Monday.

“Many people want to see him,” Ismail said.

Rosmah Abdul Kadir, 65, said she was excited when she saw Najib, but she has not decided on which side to give her vote to in the by-election.

She said just because the locals wanted to see the former prime minister, it did not mean they would surely vote e for the BN candidate.

“I live nearby. So since Najib is here, I want to see him,” the housewife said.

“We just support and respect him as a former leader. As for the candidate for assemblyman, I think I will wait and see before I decide.”

Rosmah’s friend Salmah Desa said all the four candidates in the by-election had equal chances.

She said regular folk just wanted a representative who works and takes care of the people.

“We are not politicians… if you ask us about the candidates, many of us are confused and are not sure who to pick.”

The four candidates are Pakatan Harapan’s Muhammad Aiman Zainali, BN’s Zakaria Hanafi, PSM’s Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul and independent Kuan Chee Heng. Semenyih voters go to the polls on March 2.

Najib has been a popular figure in the BN campaign. His second programme with “Bossku” – as he is now popularly known – had received good response from the people.

He arrived at the market at 8.40am and ate breakfast with locals, before starting his walkabout today.

The former BN and Umno chief was even more popular than Zakaria, who is running in the by-election. More than 150 locals at the market were more interested to take selfies with Najib than to get to know Zakaria.

Hanisah Hamid, 36, said the people were only interested to meet Najib and take pictures with “bossku”.

“If not (for Najib), I would have not come,” the factory worker said. – February 20, 2019.