DEVELOPMENT of Tg Piai will be Pakatan Harapan’s main campaign thrust in the parliamentary by-election despite the opposition’s propensity to take up issues of race and religion.

PH candidate Karmaine Sardini’s message to Tg Piai’s 52,986 voters is to support the ruling coalition so that the work of the late MP Md Farid Md Rafik could be continued.

The 66-year-old imam and businessman said Barisan Nasional’s playing up of racial sentiments in its campaign showed that it had failed after ruling the country for 60 years.

“The issues are more on infrastructure such as repairing roads. Some have been dealt with by the government but some had been applied for by the late MP and are in the process of implementation,” Karmaine said during a walkabout at the Pekan Nenas wet market.

“We are the government, so please give us the opportunity to continue with the development agenda. In three to four years, God willing, we will solve the area’s problems.

“After 60 years of BN rule, the country is still not perfect. We have only been here for one and a half years,” Karmaine said, adding that the Johor government is also on track to delivering its election manifesto.

Karmaine is facing five contenders for the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat which fell vacant following the death of Farid.

The five are BN’s Wee Jeck Seng, Berjasa president Badrulhisham Abdul Aziz, 56; Gerakan women’s wing vice-chairman Wendy Subramaniam, 38; Gabungan Teksi SeMalaysia representative Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar, 43; and Independent candidate Ang Chuan Lock, 39.

Umno, BN’s lynchpin party, is expected to stir up the racial bogeyman in the by-election by accusing Pakatan of being controlled by the multi-racial DAP.

Despite DAP’s repeated denials, Umno claims DAP’s end game is to take away the special position of Islam and the Malays as set down in the constitution.

Karmaine said such a campaign tactic proved that Umno and BN had failed to create a cohesive society despite being in power for 60 years.

“We have only been in government for one and a half years. If BN is able to forge communal unity after ruling for 60 years, it shows they have failed.

“If they keep using racial issues (to win elections) it shows they have failed.” – November 3, 2019.