PORT DICKSON, Oct 2 (Bernama) -- Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan set up a fund and invited volunteers to help him to campaign as an independent candidate in the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election, polling for which is on Oct 13.
The former personal aide of PKR president-elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also contesting the by-election, made his maiden appearance today in Telok Kemang on the fourth day of the by-election campaign.
“I humbly appeal to all my friends, all Malaysians and corporate bodies for support and financial aid for my campaign up to polling day. This fund has been set up not in my personal interest but for national stability. Please donate, even if it is just RM1,” he said at a press conference at a restaurant when introducing the ‘Tabung RM1’ fund.
Mohd Saiful Bukhari, 33, said he has not prepared any funds for the campaign because he does not want to be accused of having obtained money from certain quarters to contest in the by-election.
He also invited anyone at all to join his election campaign as volunteers. It had been reported that Mohd Saiful Bukhari does not have any election machinery and is depending on social media to reach the voters.
Mohd Saiful Bukhari said to Bernama that he was contesting the by-election as he wanted to show his opposition to his former employer as he was disappointed that the seat had been vacated on purpose to enable Anwar to contest and become an MP.
He denied that he was being sponsored by certain quarters to stand against Anwar, saying that it was his own decision to contest.
The by-election is a seven-cornered contest. Besides Anwar and Mohd Saiful Bukhari, the other contestants are Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar of PAS and four other independent candidates - former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, Lau Seck Yan, Stevie Chan Keng Leong and Kan Chee Yuen.
Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, 68, of PKR vacated the seat on Sept 12 to enable Anwar to contest the by-election and become an MP.
He had won the seat in the 14th general election in May, beating Datuk V.S. Mogan of BN and Mahfuz Roslan of PAS with a majority of 17,710 votes.
-- BERNAMA
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