Selangor declares Nov 18 as public holiday

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government has declared a public holiday for Friday Nov 18, a day before polling day.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari the decision would be gazetted after being approved by the state government meeting next Wednesday.

"Selangor has the highest number of voters in Malaysia at 3,677,848 and there are a large number of Malaysians who work and reside in the state but vote in their hometowns located in other states.

"I have also held preliminary discussion (regarding the public holiday) with the states under Pakatan Harapan, but Selangor finalised this matter earlier and announced it today," he told a special press conference here today.

He said the state government also hoped that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob would announce a similar holiday nationwide to enable the people to go out and vote in the Nov 19 general election.

Meanwhile, Amirudin said the state government would discuss with Rapid KL bus operator, Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd, to provide 20 Smart Selangor buses from tomorrow (Nov 10) to ferry commuters affected by the Kelana Jaya LRT Line disruption.

He added that the state government would provide 10,000 doses of influenza-pneumococcal vaccine for free to high-risk groups with an allocation of RM1.5 million.

"This programme will start from Nov 14 until Dec 31 and the first phase will focus on homes for the elderly, senior citizens and Iltizam Selangor Sihat card holders," he said.

-- BERNAMA