The deputy prime minister and home minister said he believed the opposition could attempt to launch slanderous attacks in its desperation to fish for votes before polling tomorrow.
“There will surely be such attacks. In the last general election, in 2013, it was said that 40,000 Bangladeshis were brought in to vote for the BN.
“There was no such thing. Now, who else is going to come?
“At that time, we were unprepared,; we had no pre-emptive measures.
“Now, we are ready,” he said when addressing a meet-the-people session and opening of the Dewan Muafakat Taman Yayasan near here today.
Present was Health Minister and MIC president Dr S Subramaniam, who is defending the Segamat parliamentary seat for BN.
Zahid, who is carrying out the duties of the Umno deputy president, said he expected personal attacks to be hurled at BN candidates, including Prime Minister Najib Razak.
He said his reputation had been smeared when he was accused by the PKR Hutan Melintang candidate on the security of postal votes in his parliamentary constituency.
“Do not be shocked if there are attacks on Datuk Seri Subra or other candidates. I will not be shocked if PM is also affected.”
Zahid said the fact that the Hutan Melintang candidate was willing to be in the lock-up, wearing lock-up attire to look after the postal vote boxes, showed his distrust of the country’s laws.
Nonetheless, he reminded voters, especially voters who were still undecided, to be careful and not fall for last-minute defamation attacks.
He said the opposition was desperate as BN was in a better position at the moment.
Zahid also drew the attention of voters that the opposition would continue with its attacks and slander in the “live” message by (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad from Langkawi at 10 tonight.
In this regard, he said he was confident BN would continue to be given the mandate, based on the spirit of the coalition’s cooperation in the state.
“I am confident Johor will remain in BN as the spirit of Johor BN is unlike BN in Selangor and Penang in the past,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zahid said he would ensure an Urban Transformation Centre would be built in Segamat if BN retained the seat.
“I promise that 150 days from now, I will return for something special in Segamat,” he added.