P.140
Segamat (13th General Election on May 5, 2013)
46,262 (20,093/43.43% Malays;
21,393/46.24% Chinese; 4,641/10.03% Indians)
Vote for Change, for our children’s future
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Day-night-long campaign ends with 10,000-people
ceramah
Chua greeting Sunday morning bak kut teh
lovers where he also had his breakfast.
SEGAMAT (April 14, 2013): It was a
pulsating Day 5 of walkabouts today for Chua Jui Meng but a rewarding one.
The
campaigning pace was punishing and energy-sapping, ending with a 10,000-people
PAS ceramah in Kampung Abdullah at
midnight.
The
Johor PKR chairman who is also a PKR vice-president is contesting the P.140
Segamat parliamentary seat for the first time and he is not taking anything for
granted.
Although
the majority of the people here seem to be able to identify or recognise him in
the past four days and nights of walkabouts because he was a former health
minister and Bakri MP for five successive terms, Chua said he must still shake
as many hands of people until May 5.
“Nothing
can replace the warm handshakes in the walkabouts with the people,” he added.
Chua
and his team of campaigners and supporters, including those from the DAP, kicked
off their campaign trail at 9am with a bak
kut teh breakfast at a stall on Jalan Buloh Kasap.
Say cheese … an enthusiastic woman voter
who seized the opportunity for a picture with Chua.
After
breakfast and two rounds of handshakes at 9.45am, Chua and his team headed for
Taman Utama’s Restoran Ciu Zau Bak Kut Teh, Restoran Win Lai Jaya (dim sum), Coffee Corner, Restoran Nasir
Corner and The Bean Café.
They
then spent three hours walking in and out of coffee shops and food courts in
Kampung Abdullah, and distributing flyers.
After
lunch at 2pm, Chua held a Campaign Team strategy meeting until 3.30pm.
Chua
then headed for Jementah for walkabouts
at coffee shops and to inspect the storm-hit town where three houses were
damaged in separate falling trees.
Chua
and his team also covered the town’s Pasar Malam trail for two hours before
returning to a home stay in Segamat at 7.30pm for a rest.
The mammoth crowd that filled two thirds
of a football field.
At
9pm, Chua was pleasantly surprised by a crowd that occupied two-thirds of a
football field at a ceramah in
Kampung Abdullah organised PAS.
In
his address, Chua said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s “R U Ready For BN”
blunder in Penang made him looked like a fool.
“He
will be BN and Umno’s last prime minister after May 5,” he said to a crowd that
roared and clapped with approval.
Chua
said he joined PKR in 2009 after Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto leader Anwar
Ibrahim convinced him join in the struggle.
“I
did not join PKR for position. I joined to help bring about positive change for
the people.
“The
PR government will prioritise the people’s welfare, not cronies like what BN
has been doing the past 55 years,” he added.
“When
Anwar convinced me to take up the challenge to build up PKR in Johor in 2010, I
hesitated. But he (Anwar) managed to convince me,” he added.
“Umno
then made stupid statements claiming that I will be Johor MB if PR wins the
mandate! How stupid can they be?
“The
state constitution allows only Malays to be appointed a Mentri Besar. Am I a
Malay?”
Chua
said PR’s election manifesto was one that “loves the rakyat” and being a Muar-born, “I am able to understand and relate
to the woes of Johoreans.
“The
manifesto contains many fiscal measures aimed at poverty eradication. Poverty must
be eradicated at all cost,” he added.
Chua
said: “If I am elected, I will serve Segamat with the same principle as when I
was Health Minister for nine years.
“That
principle is to love our patients and to be tender to them. This means I pledge
to serve my constituents with love and teder care,” he added.
Chua
said he wished to thank the people of Segamat for accepting him as their
potential elected representative.
“I
will surely not let the people of Segamat down by bringing about positive
change with a clean administration,” Chua said.
