DR Mahathir Mohamad today accused Barisan Nasional of using dirty tactics, including distributing racial leaflets attributed to Pakatan Harapan, in the Tg Piai by-election.

The PH chairman said the former ruling coalition also used photos of him in a blue shirt supposedly campaigning for BN in Tg Piai.

These tactics were to confuse voters and enrage the Chinese to vote against PH, he said.

“I hope the people here will not fall for BN’s provocations. They like to lie.

“That day they had a photo of me in a blue shirt to show that I was campaigning for them. Last night, there were leaflets supposedly from us urging voters to vote our Muslim candidate.

“This is just to make the Chinese votes be angry with us,” he said in Pekan Nenas this morning.

Yesterday, leaflets urging Tg Piai voters to pick a Muslim candidate in Saturday’s by-election were distributed at a ceramah where Dr Mahathir was present.

The leaflets, carrying the words “vote wisely”, “who is the BN candidate?” and “vote Muslim first” were distributed at the main PH ceramah in Kukup Laut.

The leaflets also carried a halal logo with the slogan “buy Muslim products”.

Six candidates are vying for the seat, but the real contest is expected to be between PH’s Karmaine Sardini and BN’s Wee Jeck Seng.

The leaflets come after Dr Mahathir wrote an open letter to Tg Piai voters, urging them to reject racial politics.

Dr Mahathir said today that he was convinced Tg Piai voters would not fall for such dirty tricks, although he admitted there were some voters who still thought he was still the Umno president.

“I don’t think the voters, especially the Chinese, are stupid to fall for the leaflet trick. I don’t think they will vote for BN just because of this leaflet.” – November 14, 2019.