Monday, March 30, 2009

Ismail Defends BN Cooperation

TAIPING, March 30 (Bernama) -- Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Ismail Saffian is comfortable cooperating with BN component parties in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election.

"Its not unusual for me to cooperate with them," he said.

Speaking to reporters while campaigning house to house in Kampung Baru Temerloh near here this evening, Ismail said BN worked as a team based on the spirit of cooperation in the BN.

He was commenting on the charge by Pas's central election director Datuk Mustafa Ali that he could not do it on his own and had to rely on component party leaders to be successful in his campaign.

Mustafa at a news conference at Pas' main operations centre at Air Kuning here had said that Pas candidate Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin could run his own campaign without any relying heavily on leaders of Pas, DAP or Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Said Ismail: "I feel it is not wrong to walk alongside MCA and Gerakan leaders as they are very close to the Chinese community...so I have to work with them.

"That is the spirit we have in the BN and that is why we have BN."

He said he will not resort to personal attacks but instead provide clarification and the truth to the people.

Mustafa had also said he was not worried about the small coverage by the mainstream media for Pas as it would not affect the party's chances but he however called on the mainstream media to be fair in its coverage.

Meanwhile, Ismail agreed with Mustafa that the weather had to some extent hindered campaining.

"There will be some strategic changes (in campaigning) to accommodate the uncertain weather," he said.

-- BERNAMA

No comments: