No end to Ahmad Zahid's love for bikes
BAGAN DATUK, May 1 (Bernama) -- Despite his hectic schedule campaigning for the 14th General Election (GE14), it did not stop Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi from spending time riding a 'kapcai' (small) motorcycle around the villages here.
In fact, the 65-year-old Barisan Nasional (BN) incumbent for the Bagan Datuk parliamentary seat, who is on his fourth day of campaigning, straight away grabbed his helmet when asked to ride a motorcycle for the 'Kembara Jalinan Kasih' programme organised by the Information Department today.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Superbikers Association of Malaysia (SAM) chairman, said that motorcycles had always been close to his heart since his student's days in Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.
Due to his eagerness in manning the machine, he did not realise that he had already ridden five kilometres past the first house he was supposed to drop by.
As such, one of the department's staff was spotted struggling to direct Ahmad Zahid back to the motorcycle convoy.
Joining him in the convoy were BN candidate for the Rungkup state seat Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya and Information Department director-general Datuk Ibrahim Abdul Rahman.
Throughout the ride, Ahmad Zahid was spotted waiving and talking to villagers whenever he bumped into them including his opponent, Pakhrurrazi Arshad of PKR, who was campaigning with his election machinery in Teluk Penikam here.
Despite the political differences, the deputy prime minister took the trouble making a U-turn and stopped for a while to spend time with Pakhrurrazi, who is also his old friend, before continuing his journey for the first programme in the itinerary.
Ahmad Zahid visited five houses during the programme, which come under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry's National Blue Ocean Strategy - Connecting the Unconnected programme for the parliamentary constituency.
He is set to defend the Bagan Datuk parliamentary seat for the sixth time in a three-cornered fight with Pakhrurrazi and Ata Abdul Muneim Hasan Adli of PAS.
-- BERNAMA
