UMNO vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail drew attention when he seemingly urged outstation voters not to return to their hometown to cast their ballots if they intended to vote for a candidate other than the one endorsed by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
The Pahang Menteri Besar’s remarks have since been clarified as a jest aimed at lightening the mood of a drowsy audience.
Addressing BN supporters gathered for a campaign event in support of BN candidate Amizar Abu Adam, who is running for the Pelangai state seat, Wan Rosdy made a statement that initially raised eyebrows.
He told those in attendance that if their children, who live in other states, were not going to vote for BN, they should refrain from returning to Pelangai for polling day, describing them as a potential “nuisance”.
“Our children who live out of state, if they are not with us, then you should just ask them to stay (where they are).
“Just stay in Kolumpo (Kuala Lumpur). Mengacau je (you’re being a nuisance). Let us handle our own yard,” he said in his speech before a crowd of some 300 people last night (Sept 28).
However, when approached by reporters after the event, Wan Rosdy clarified his remarks stating that he had intended them as a joke to awaken sleepy audience members.
“I was only kidding. What I meant was that we are hoping the outstation voters will come back and support us. The part where I said they should not come back if they do not support us was only a joke. Because some of the audience were sleepy, I wanted to wake them up.
“Don’t take it too seriously,” Wan Rosdy said.
Meanwhile, in his speech, Wan Rosdy took a swipe at the PAS for suggesting in their election campaigns that Pahang was on the path to becoming a secular state.
He countered these claims by asserting that Pahang was, in fact, more Islamic than states governed by PAS.
He also cited various initiatives by the state government, including the presence of an Islamic university, 24 tahfiz (Quran memorisation) schools and scholarships for Islamic studies in institutions like Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.
Furthermore, he also noted that Pahang had enacted an anti-apostasy law.
“So which part (about Pahang) is unIslamic? I think Pahang is even more Islam than states that are under their (PAS) control”. – Sept 28, 2023
