ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Iskandar Puteri parliamentary seat is crucial not only for Barisan Nasional, but also Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional, says Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad.

The Johor Barisan chief said he has high hopes for the coalition to wrest back the parliamentary seat, which is held by DAP’s Lim Kit Siang.

“Iskandar Puteri is a parliamentary seat with the second highest number of voters in Johor with about 222,000 voters – we cannot discount this seat.

“We should work hard in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15) to ensure a win; harder than we did in the March Johor election where we won 40 seats out of the 56 in the state assembly.

“This has enabled the state government to plan, develop and implement policies and programmes more efficiently to benefit the people.

“But winning in the state is not enough. We need to have a Federal Government that is aligned with our aspirations otherwise, all our efforts would have gone to waste,” he said before launching the Iskandar Puteri Barisan general election machinery here on Sunday (Oct 23).

Also present at the event were Iskandar Puteri Barisan division chief Khairy A. Malik and MCA division chief Datuk Jason Teoh.

Hasni, who is also the former Johor mentri besar, added that voters no longer wanted leaders who made sweet promises who showed no efforts to fulfil them.

“This is the habit of the current Iskandar Puteri MP.

“The people want highways, better public transportation and infrastructure for Iskandar Puteri.

“They want a leader who is on the ground and understands their struggles to bring their voice to Parliament, such as Datuk Jason,” said the Benut assemblyman.

Hasni also took a swipe at the Opposition, calling them “bankrupt of ideas for constantly launching personal attacks on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.”

“It is better that we look at policies and issues such as the rising cost of living and even the shortage of eggs, as these issues are closer to the rakyat,” he added.

In the 14th General Election, DAP stalwart Lim won in Iskandar Puteri with 80,726 votes against MCA’s Teoh who received 35,862 votes.