Malar Rajaram and Mohd Nor
Most of Rantau’s by-election focused on PH candidate Dr Streram and BN candidate Datuk Seri Mohammad Hassan. As the two immediately caught all the attention, two other candidates were unfortunately side-lined.
One of them is 51-year-old R.Malarvizhi or Malar Rajaram. Malar was a radio host in Canada for 30 years, but after returning to her hometown, she saw no changes. The people were divided, development was poor, and poverty still exists.
Malar initially expressed disappointment with the PH government for not allowing other candidates and previous by-election candidates to speak as much. She wanted to be heard by the people and also promote her manifesto.
Moreover, she also explained how the BN supporters made her upset with their promotion of “Bossku” campaign, saying it’s not good morale for youths. Hence, Malar had a silent protest, by not campaigning for the by-election as a symbol of being silenced.
Yesterday, Malar filed a police report against PKR candidate Dr Streram, because he was seen at Rantau schools handing out RM 75,000 worth of coupons to underprivileged primary school students. She said she made her report because no one else did.
The second independent candidate is 67-year-old former lecturer Mohd Nor Yassin. He only started campaigning yesterday, claiming he was unprepared and needed time to arrange his programme.
Mohd Nor was deemed a controversial candidate for having connections with both PAS and Amanah. PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan stated he left the party on March 10 to join Amanah. But Amanah secretary-general Anuar Tahir said because he contested as an independent party, he was automatically kicked out.
Despite all that, Mohd Nor assured that his delay from campaigning had nothing to do with his past alliances.
Furthermore, Mohd Nor claimed he was confident in racking up at least 500 votes for this election, based on the feedback he received on WhatsApp. He also did not want to appeal to the public who funded campaign, saying people have responded well so far.