Wifely duties of BN candidate include packed Chinese tea

MELAKA: The wife of Kota Melaka Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentary candidate, Kon Qi Yao, has taken two weeks' leave to hit the campaign trail with her husband to ensure he is in good health during the gruelling run-up to Malaysia's 15th general election (GE15).

Kon, 41, a businessman, said that Gan Yen Lee, 41, who works at a factory in Batu Berendam, did it to support his decision to dive into the world of politics.

He said he spends the whole day campaigning from 7.30am to midnight and that Gan is with him every step of the way meeting voters in Kota Melaka while "ensuring I eat regularly and have a flask of Chinese tea.

"My wife's support is motivating me to work harder during the 14-day campaigning period to interact with more voters," he said to Bernama today.

He added that his eight and 11-year-old sons also understand that he can only see them in the morning before heading out.

Kon is in a four-cornered contest with Kota Melaka incumbent, Khoo Poay Tiong (Pakatan Harapan-DAP), Suhaime Borhan (Perikatan Nasional-Gerakan) and Datuk Dr Norazlanshah Hazali (independent).

He said that one of the main challenges would be to break the DAP stronghold in a constituency of 164,140 voters.

"An election campaign is not easy especially in Kota Melaka, the biggest constituency among six in Melaka.

"I aim to meet at least half of the number of voters here. So among others I'll be going to gathering places like the morning and night markets, restaurants and food courts," Kon said.

He added that since campaigning started on Sunday (Nov 6) he has already done 30 - 40 per cent of canvassing which will continue in earnest till the eve of polls on Nov 18.

In the last general election in 2018, Khoo won the seat with a majority of 49,175 votes after beating BN's Eric Choo Wei Sern and independent candidate, Goh Leong San.

-- BERNAMA