KUALA KUBU BARU: After harping on his fondness for the bottle, Zaid Ibrahim's rivals have now turned their focus on his passion for race horses.
Several websites have produced documentary evidence to substantiate their claim that the former law minister is a "gambler" with regard to owning the horses, including one named after his home state Kelantan.
Zaid, however, remains unfazed by the galloping attacks.
He recalled how the "father of independence" Tunku Abdul Rahman also had a soft spot for the thoroughbreds.
“Tunku owned horses, and I used to own horses. It is a sport, and not gambling,” he told reporters at the PKR media centre here.
“To say I am a gambler is (fitnah) slanderous. The real gamblers are (those in) Umno, they are always seen in casinos,” he said. “If you check the casinos, you will find their names, not mine.”
Zaid's rivals are mounting a campaign to paint the PKR supreme council leader as un-Islamic in the eyes of the Malay voters, who make up more than 50 percent of the total electorate.
But the Pakatan troubleshooter is taking these allegations in his stride and waved off inquiries of whether he would be pressing charges against those responsible.
“You can't sue people for what they put up on blogs. If you start doing that, you won't be able to do anything else with your life.”
Zaid vs Umno
Zaid also remained unaffected about the withdrawal of the two independent candidates, V S Chandran and Johan Diah, from the race, saying that it would not make a difference to his chances of winning.
“The fight has always been between Umno and me,” he said. “If I was up against MIC, it would be much easier. But as you can see there are more pictures of (prime minister) Najib (Tun Razak) than of the BN candidate in Hulu Selangor.”
But discussing his reaction to his opponents' dirty tactics is of little interest to Zaid who would much rather be talking about his own campaign issues, which include social ills, land and eco-tourism. According to him, many of these issues are in line with that of the Pakatan state government.
“When I heard of my possible candidacy, the first thing I did was meet (Selangor menteri besar) Khalid Ibrahim to talk about these issues because nothing can happen without his support,” he said.
On social ills, Zaid felt that there was more the state government could do to increase education and employment opportunities for the youth. He proposed establishing learning institutions and boosting development in the district to meet this need.
“I will also push for those who have long applied for land to be granted the titles,” he added.
"The state government has already agreed to review the applications and begin processing them. Then there is BN's legacy of abandoned projects around Hulu Selangor which I aim to rescue and revive.”
“Kuala Kubu Baru is a garden city and has various historical facets. I want the people of Hulu Selangor to understand this history, be proud of it and capitalise on it for tourism purpose.”
Zaid also reiterated his plan to improve the life of Felda settlers and the Orang Asli community by creating a special task force comprising people who understand their issues and can raise them at national level. However, he noted a sense of sceptism among the people during his walkabouts.
“They have been disappointed before and are tired of political promises,” he said. “And they questioned whether I could really make a difference. I told them that the difference now is that we have a Pakatan state government and that I have a strong friendship with Khalid. So I can make things happen.”
Zaid chosen based on experience
Khalid, who was also present, affirmed that he would support Zaid in delivering his plans for Hulu Selangor should he win the seat.
“Zaid's past experience as an MP and his legal background will add value to our ongoing efforts,” he said. “For example, in terms of land issues Zaid can propose an appropriate solution and explain the right process of reaching it.”
“Zaid is someone who can hit the ground running if he's elected. The risk of taking a person who is new to politics, like P Kamalanathan, is extremely high, especially if he isn't able to add the same value as compared to Zaid.”
Also present at the press conference was state executive councillor Elizabeth Wong (Tourism, Consumer Affairs and Environment), who shared Pakatan's plans to have Kuala Kubu Baru registered as a world heritage site.
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