KLUANG: Barisan Nasional's (BN) Mahkota by-election candidate Syed Hussein Syed Abdullah has expanded the use of social media and music in his campaign.
After a week of campaigning, the Kluang Umno Youth chief said he uses social media and WhatsApp groups to persuade voters living outside the area to return on the Sept 28 polls.
He said his team were actively persuading voters via WhatsApp groups for school alumni members and others.
"From time to time, we continue to utilise social media and WhatsApp while simultaneously speaking to friends and other members of the community.
"If we have WhatsApp groups involving school alumni and their relatives, we ask them to persuade others to come back and vote.
"WhatsApp groups are important because they allow direct communication with specific individuals," he said after the Umno Youth Fishing Competition in Taman Ilham here yesterday, which was also attended by Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Akmal Saleh.
Regarding the campaign's approach to engage voters in the Mahkota constituency, Syed Hussien said he is trying to reach as many voters as possible as there are 66,318 registered voters.
He meets with all segments of society, regardless of race and religion.
"Throughout the campaign, I have met with everyone comprehensively and have not only focused on one group. I meet them face-to-face.
"There is no concept of comfort for me at this time because we need to work hard to ensure as many voters as possible come out on pollingday."
On a separate issue, Syed Hussien said requests from residents to upgrade the Kluang Bus Terminal would be escalated to the authorities.
"First, we need to promote the place before we can upgrade it. We need to think in the long term.
"If there are no plans for the traders at the terminal, it will become a waste," he said, referring to proposals to use escalators at the Kluang Bus Terminal.
Meanwhile, the BN campaign became a bit more livelier with a special song for the coalition's by-election candidate, which was created by Umno Youth and titled "Hussien".
Akmal said the song was composed by Umno Youth information chief Mohammad Sollehin Mohammad Tajie and has been playing on social media since the first day of the campaign.
He said a similar strategy was used during the Nenggiri by-election, where the Umno Youth wing played a Dikir Barat song which captured the attention of voters.
"This song is fresher because we are using all the technology available in line with the current era."
Dr Akmal said when the song is played, voters, especially among the youths will remember he candidate and he hoped that will be translated into votes.
"This approach was also used during the Indonesian Presidential Election, where candidate Prabowo Subianto used music as a campaign strategy," he said.
BN's Syed Hussien will be up against Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Mohammad Haizan Jaafar, also known as Coach Haizan.
The Mahkota seat was left vacant following the death of its former assemblywoman, Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, on Aug 2.
She had won the seat for BN in the March 2022 state election with a majority of 5,166 votes.