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As race tightens, every vote counts

Posted by admin

Thursday, 08 January 2009 15:09

By Adib Zalkapli, The Malaysian Insider

The Pas campaign raised concerns today about voter fraud and the heavy police presence for the Kuala Terengganu by-election, in an indication that every vote will count in what is becoming a very tight race.

"Since nomination day, we are satisfied, but we will continue to assess the situation on a day to day basis," said the party's election director Datuk Mustafa Ali.

"We will find out more on the polling day," he said.

Both campaigns are now expecting a close race with many voters appearing to have made up their minds. The campaign is now centred on who the 11per cent of Chinese swing voters in the constituency will cast their votes for.

The margin of victory in the last election was just over 600 votes, and Pas is concerned about any kind of irregularity in the electoral process.

Mustafa said he was glad the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) appeared to be serious in investigating allegations of vote buying.

He said that he had met MACC officials this morning over his allegation yesterday that some voters were paid RM500 to surrender their identity cards.

The Terengganu Pas chief however did not rule out the possibility of the crucial by-election being tarnished by incidents similar to what happened during the Pengkalan Pasir by-election three years ago.

In the hotly contested by-election for the Kelantan state seat, BN won by some 100 votes and Pas alleged that the opponent had resorted to dirty tactics as Umno leaders had planned to topple the state government where Pas was ruling with a two seat majority prior to the Pengkalan Pasir by-election.

Mustafa also hoped that the police would be professional in carrying out their duties.

"I hope their presence will not be seen as trying to intimidate the voters. And I have received an assurance from the state police chief and so far I have not received any complaints on the police," he added.

"There is a possibility that they will be used by the BN machinery, for what I don't know but we are monitoring their activities," said Mustafa.

The police have deployed 3,800 personnel for the Kuala Terengganu by-election and the IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan said the heavy police presence was due to the history of election violence in the constituency.

Comments (12) Add Comment

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written by Motherchell, January 08, 2009 15:34:35

PAS pl keep your focus , watch out for all the tricks the UMNO goons will play with . Keep track of all the counts , employ all your supporters to bring out the people to fight them with the pain and despair of the years and the truth with the vote for PAS!
http://sjsandteam.wordpress.com/

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written by carribeanking7, January 08, 2009 15:36:44

About 6,000 policemen will be on duty for the Kuala Terengganu by-election to ensure a smooth election, Terengganu deputy police chief Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said on new years day as reprted in The Star

The IGP has maintained on above article and fron 08 Jan that 3800 police personel will be deployed. There is a big difference between 6000 and 3800, makes me wonder if The terengganu Deputy Chief and the IGP have poor communication,
are bad at arithmetic or telling blatant lies. When it comes to figures it seems that BN politicians and the police can never get their act together. So, which is it?

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written by ahmadneil, January 08, 2009 15:51:53

Make sure the ballots box are empty and check for any secret compartments that will be stash with umno votes inside.We can't be over confident.Since we can't trust them anymore,there is no need to give them face.Check everything and make sure that it's acceptable.They will do anything to win KT.

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written by ahmadneil, January 08, 2009 15:53:19

To all KT voters,come out in full force and vote for PAS.To the chinese,please vote for PAS becos this is the only chance to kick out umno.

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written by savemalaysia, January 08, 2009 16:03:25

If the election is free, there won't be a tight race. It will certainly be a PAS victory. The race is only tight if there is rigging and vote buying by BN. When the fatty Najis said that the KT's election was not about him two days ago, it already showed that he saw defeat at the horizon and hurriedly absolved himself of any blame for the impending defeat.

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written by SocratesI, January 08, 2009 16:14:42

The Anjing DiRaja M'sia will probably surreptitously cast votes for the One (ah)Mad Putrid Barisan Najis candidate if we don't watch them closely! That will be another 3,800 plus the 1,100 postal votes, the One Putrid guy is going to have an advantage of 5,000 votes over our Man, Wahid Endut from PAS.

Therefore, if RPK's estimate is correct, and the margin of victory is somewhere around 5,000 votes, then it becomes a close fight. If it is a fair fight, it would have been a foregone conclusion, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS & Wahid Endut wins!

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written by Bloodhound, January 08, 2009 16:39:08

Becareful that the security forces/police personnel at KT does not themselves turned into pengundi hantu with each of them voting at several voting sites to boost BN votes. Also possible is their facilitating the movement of pengundi hantu at various sites. Keep them honest!

All opposition supporters should arm themselves with video cameras to tape all suspected pengundi hantu especially those coming off buses from out of town. These videos should then be sieved through by residents of the various sites to identify unknown voters or pengundi hantu.

Local volunteers should be at all the voting booths to confirm that voters are from their areas. Voters going into the voting booths which are not known to the locals should be video taped for future references and identification. If enough of supporters carry out these video tapings, then, the use of pengundi hantu can finally be confirmed or otherwise.

Participants should however be discrete as the so called "security forces/police" on duty will do their best to cover up the evidences of such pengundi hantu and they will threaten partiicipants and confiscate the cameras to ensure that the truth about pengundi hantu stays in and remain buried within KT and that evidences does not get out of the electrorate in order that the rest of the Malaysians outside KT are kept in the dark in order for their repugnant scheme to work! This is why we must expose them to the fullest for what they are! Results obtained by foul means is a cheating by any language. It defeats the purpose of elections and go against the will of the people. The people's rights to choose must never be undermined by anyone or any party for that matter. That is what democracy is all about - nothing less!

PAS volunteers MUST go to the Chinese/Indian areas to accompany voters to get to the voting stations. As previously in Permatang Pauh, the "security forces/police" have been reported to have intimidated/discouraged/threatened/abused the non-Malay voters to prevent them from coming out of their houses to get to the voting stations. The "security forces/police" know that these groups of voters are now more inclined to vote for the opposition (PAS in KT) and preventiing them from getting to the voting stations is as good as having pengundi hantu.

If the non-Malay voters are prevented/discouraged from getting to the voting stations and pengundi hantu are present, the odds of a fair election will be severely compromised and the will of the people hijacked! This must never happen - the rights of the people must never be compromised!

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written by ahmadneil, January 08, 2009 16:40:44

Stay cool and focus!Keep on convicing the chinese on the importance of throwing out umno.For sure the chinese will vote PAS.I have confident that PAS will prevail.

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written by MalaysiaBaru, January 08, 2009 19:40:49

The only history of election violence there was committed a few years back by the Polis Anjing Umno Malaysia that fired live bullets and nearly killed two unarmed PAS supporters. Until today, the trigger happy police were not brought to justice.

Hmmmm... based on his warped reason, PIG Musang is deploying 3,800 additional police personnel to give protection to prevent the civilians from being shot by trigger-happy police again.

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written by taishan, January 08, 2009 21:03:53

Correction:

IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan and his police force has a history of violence.

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written by clarity, January 08, 2009 21:16:20

If the PAS candidate wins, he will immediately look into the interest of the people of KT.
If the UMNO candidate wins, he will immediately head into the nearest Mercsdes showroom. Look what happened last year to the Trengganu councillors. They even went against their party rules and bought eleven Mercedes. They just can't resist looking after themselves.

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written by advocatusdiaboli, January 08, 2009 21:18:44

Kick UMNO out for good.

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