PETALING JAYA: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate for Subang Jaya, Michelle Ng has been rebuked by Twitter users over a video she posted urging voters to “tegur” those who have not voted yet.
Ng, who is from DAP, however, told FMT, her use of the word “tegur” was misconstrued by some as “reprimand” instead of “advise”.
She said under Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, “tegur” also means “advise” and not just “reprimand”.
Earlier, in a social media post, Ng said she had been informed that as of 11am, the voter turnout in her constituency had reached only 32%.
“So, if you all have voted, when you go out for lunch, please look at people whose fingers are still clean, please ‘tegur’ them, make sure they go out to vote,” she said referring to the stain left by the indelible ink.
“We only have until 6pm, so we only have about five hours left,” she said in a video posted on her Twitter page at 1.29pm.
Ng’s call for voters to approach other members of the public did not sit well with Twitter users and garnered several comments criticising her.
User @KerusiSepii said “How YB?, I want to go to this Sunway Pyramid later (and) people will scold (me)… I’m from Perlis.”
Another user, @drsyazanaali said “YB, why reprimand? We don’t want to steer chaos in public by simply doing that. What if I stay in Subang but I’m from the USA and am not involved.”
Another user @jijan2023 said “My fingers are still clean, but whoever reprimands me must want to get slapped. It’s not that I don’t want to vote, but I couldn’t. #demipertiwi So don’t simply reprimand people whose fingers are clean.”
Others kept their comments brief like @zakimohtar saying “No. Don’t do this.”, and @wanmfirdaus “Become a YB but still not clever, it’s a pity.”
This is not the first occasion where Ng has courted controversy in relation to today’s polls.
On Sunday, Ng apologised over an election campaign poster featuring the sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, and the state exco. The poster has since been taken down.
In a Facebook post, Ng said she had no intention of involving the sultan in her election campaign, adding that the picture used was simply of the first day of the state assembly sitting.
Ng is looking to defend her seat in a three-cornered fight with Perikatan Nasional’s S Gana and Muda’s Zayd Shaukat.