In Bertam, Khairy stumps for BN’s Reezal Merican
SEBERANG PERAI, Aug 10 — The sleepy township of Bertam was abuzz with excitement this afternoon when former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar joined Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican for a campaign walkabout here.
The former Umno Youth chief also known as KJ was warmly greeted by people in the township as he went shop-to-shop with Reezal.
“I am here to help my friend, Reezal,” Khairy said when asked if he was here to help BN’s campaign.
Khairy was sacked from Umno in January and has remain unaffiliated since.
On Monday, he participated in campaign of former Umno colleague Datuk Harrison Hassan, who is contesting the Jeram seat in Selangor for Perikatan Nasional.
Today, Khairy said he found Reezal to be a hard worker when they had been in the Cabinet together.
“Bertam is Pak Lah’s kampung and Reezal is the successor of his fight here,” he said, referring to former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is his father-in-law,
Khairy said Abdullah had represented the people of Bertam in the 1970s and Reezal was meant to be his successor.
He hoped for Reezal to win the seat and continue with Pak Lah’s efforts.
When asked if he is also helping Pakatan Harapan (PH) to campaign, Khairy said he is only supporting Reezal due to their friendship.
Khairy then conceded that there are voters in Bertam who do not want to vote for BN.
“So, put aside all that, don’t think about BN, just vote for Reezal,” he said.
“One vote for Reezal is one vote for Reezal, there’s nothing more than that, vote for Reezal is not one vote for Zahid Hamidi,” he added, referring to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also the Umno president.
When asked what would happen to Umno if it lost half of the 108 seats it is contesting in the six state elections, he said his former party would try to play it down.
“I am here only to campaign for Reezal but if Umno bungkus (loses), they will act as if nothing happened,” he said.
Meanwhile, Reezal Merican said Khairy’s presence is the final push in the last two days of campaign before polling on August 12.
He said there was a huge crowd gathered to meet Khairy because he was an idol to many people.
“I am less popular here, but he came here for the final push so that I can win in Bertam to continue Pak Lah’s legacy,” he said.
Reezal said he has accepted his loss in the 15th general election for the Kepala Batas parliamentary seat.
He said he has learnt from the result eight months ago, so he is now going on the ground to meet with as many voters as possible.
Reezal Merican was the Kepala Batas MP until 2022, after taking over the seat from Abdullah in 2013.
In GE15, he lost the seat to PAS newcomer Siti Mastura Mohamad who won with a majority of 2,867.
Reezal is in a straight fight against PN’s Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq, the incumbent since 2018.
