Opponents Tighten Squid Game Tentacles Harapan Strikes Back

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MALACCA POLLS | A new election tactic in Malacca has emerged by an anonymous group targeting Pakatan Harapan by distributing cards based on Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ series.
The cards were placed on vehicle windshields in the Kota Laksamana area yesterday, in front of the DAP office in the constituency.
The card carried a circle, a triangle and a square, similar to the hit-Korean series but also contained a QR code.
The QR code points to a website with four short videos which, unlike most campaign material in the Malacca polls, is subtle in its attacks.

The first video, titled ‘Malacca stability’ featured an election song. When the lyrics reached the part where it urged voters to not be lied to again, visuals of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto launch from 2018 was played briefly.

This was followed by visuals of Umno defectors Idris Haron and Nor Azman Hassan, who are both being fielded by Harapan as election candidates.

The group professed themselves as the “Frontman Melaka”. The Frontman is a shady and mysterious character that pulled the strings in ‘Squid Game’.

In another video titled “Pick Your Candidate”, a masked man dressed in black, similar to the Frontman in the series, urged Malaccans to reject political frogs.
“Reject frogs, reject traitors, and reject liars,” he said.
Another video blamed the political frogs for the collapse of the Umno-Bersatu state government amid the Covid-19 pandemic while another is on the standard operating procedure.

“Our state is shaken by the threat of power mania.

“Now the government has dissolved because of greed for power, jumping for wealth and the rakyat is left to languish,” said the “Frontman”.
Umno had sacked Idris and Nor Azman for defecting and bringing down the previous state government.
Idris is currently contesting the Asahan seat under the Harapan banner while Nor Azman is defending the Pantai Kundor seat on a Harapan ticket, which he previously won under BN.
They were fielded under PKR and Amanah’s quota despite DAP’s objections.
DAP has struggled to explain to its support base about its allies' decisions during the election campaign.
Striking back, Harapan supporters earlier today suit up as Squid Game characters and distributed similar cards carrying the circle, triangle and square symbols in a flash mob around the Malacca town area.

On the back of the card was a message urging Malaccans to back Harapan.

The campaigners kept a low profile for fear of attracting health authorities who have dished out hefty fines. Physical campaigning is banned due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The campaigners were completely masked up, concealing their identities.

'DAP threat to Muslims' booklet

DAP’s Low Chee Leong is defending his state seat of Kota Lakasamana. He is facing BN’s Benjamin Low Chin Hong and PN’s Fong Khai Ling.
Chee Leong won with 81.68 percent of the votes in the last general election which makes Kota Laksamana a relatively safe seat for the DAP.
The same cannot be said for Gadek, where a different kind of campaign appealing to the fears and religious sentiment of the people is being waged.
Booklets titled ‘44 threats by DAP on Malay-Muslims’ were being circulated, particularly in rural parts of the constituency.

In the last general election, DAP’s G Saminathan narrowly won the seat with only 42.47 percent of the votes in a three-cornered fight. His majority was 307 votes.

One page of the booklet featured Johor DAP's women wing publicity secretary Marina Ibrahim with the title “Be like a pig”.
It featured her Facebook comment in 2019 in which she said “Happy Chinese New Year”. 2019 was the year of the pig according to the Chinese zodiac.
In the post, Marina said pigs too have various uses and, likewise, people should live a life that can benefit others.
It also highlighted comments by incumbent Pengkalan Batu assemblyperson Norhizam Baktee Hassan declaring that he was a DAP “barua” (lackey).
Campaigning for the Malacca polls started on Nov 8. Malaccans will elect 28 representatives to the state assembly on Nov 20. - Mkini

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