GUA MUSANG: Barisan Nasional (BN) deputy election director Mohd Syahbuddin Hashim has called on the 2,560 Orang Asli voters in Nenggiri constituency to give all their votes to the coalition's candidate Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani.
Syahbuddin said they should reject the request by Perikatan Nasional secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin for the Orang Asli community to split their votes in two.
"Perikatan Nasional was desperate when its secretary-general yesterday asked half of the Orang Asli to give their vote to the party and half to BN.
"This also shows that PN is weak now and willing to make such a request to the Orang Asli," he said here today.
Syahbuddin who is also Kelantan opposition leader and Galas assemblyman, said he believed the Orang Asli voters would be loyal to BN.
"I am confident that the Orang Asli have realised who is more concerned and responsible for them.
"PN as well as the state government have never understood and assisted the Orang Asli community, especially when it involved customary land.
"The state government should also not compare the assistance that they provided to the Indian and Chinese communities in Nenggiri with the Orang Asli," he added.
Syahbuddin said the Federal government, via the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) and other agencies, have been helping the Orang Asli in Nenggiri all the time.
"The Federal Government has been monitoring the Orang Asli's welfare a lot compared with PN and the state government, who before this, had ignored their rights," he added.