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SABAH SURVEYS | On the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu, about 25 minutes from the city, supporters navigated narrow village roads in the dark to make their way to the final large ceramah of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) in Kampung Sendil, which is part of the district election of the state of Petagas.
They are predominantly dressed in party hats and shirts. The crowd of 500 members and supporters cheered every time the GRS leaders spoke.
The star of the event is none other than Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is the last speaker of the ceramah.
BN President and Umno President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is currently in Kota Kinabalu, and Sabah BN Chief Bung Moktar Radin were absent from the event.
Umno Vice President Mahdzir Khalid represented Umno / BN.
According to a media advisory, Zahid, who was campaigning in Sook, Pensiangan and several other inner districts today, was scheduled to arrive in Kota Kinabalu at 7.30pm today.
It is not immediately known why both Zahid and Bung were unable to attend the event.
Read more: Sabah Decides 2020: Making sense of players, parties and battles
BN Secretary General Annuar Musa was also supposed to attend the event, but said he had to cancel after he was ordered to self-quarantine. This is because he was identified as a close contact with Umno’s supreme council member Mohd Razlan Rafii, who tested positive for Covid-19.
Also present were the secretary general of the National Alliance, Hazmah Zainuddin, the head of the Sabah NP, Hajiji Noor, the president of Star, Jeffrey Kitingan, and the secretary general of the PBS, Jahid Janim.
The BN parties were represented by the president of the MCA, Wee Ka Siong, and the vice president of the PBRS, Arthur Joseph Kurup.
Meanwhile, about five kilometers from the heart of Kota Kinabalu, DAP is holding its own final grand event in Tanjung Lipat.
Several DAP candidates in the Kota Kinabalu area attended the event, including Luyang Phoong Jin Zhe’s candidate and Likas Tan Lee Fatt’s candidate. Also present was the PKR candidate for Api-Api Christina Liew.
In addition to the candidates, national leaders of the DAP were present, such as DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, Secretary General Lim Guan Eng and Assistant Secretary General Nga Kor Ming.
The crowd consisted of about 350 people, mostly ethnic Chinese. It was held in the large air-conditioned Hakka hall.
The candidates’ speeches were mostly in a mixture of Hakka, Mandarin, English and Malay dialect.
“Sabahans can speak all kinds of languages, right?” Liew asked, to which some in the crowd agreed.
Read more: Who’s Who is Sabah 2020 Pick
When the DAP leaders arrived, the crowd stood up and applauded to welcome them. Some lined up to take pictures with the DAP leaders.
The event also live-streamed a special message from Warisan President Mohd Shafie Apdal, who urged everyone to vote for Warisan as the campaign drew to a close.
Voting day for the Sabah state elections falls on Saturday.
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