theSun | MONDAY JANUARY 19 2009
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PAS led all the way in Malay areas
BARISAN Nasional (BN) suffered
yet another by-election defeat but
unlike its trashing at Parti Keadi-
lan Rakyat stronghold Permatang
Pauh, which was expected, the
defeat on Saturday to PAS is unu-
sual as Kuala Terengganu was a
BN-Umno seat.
BN desperatedly needed an
image-restoring win, but despite a
blitz of campaign activities aimed
at catching up at the last minute,
its candidate Datuk Wan Ahmad
Farid Wan Salleh failed to pip PAS’s
Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut, who
had been leading all the way in the
Malay areas, China Press wrote in
its analysis yesterday.
Although BN managed to garner
more Chinese votes, notably in
Bandar (state constituency), the
small increase failed to stop the
swing of Malay votes to PAS.
It is still unclear if BN’s last-
minute campaign to win Chinese
votes with goodies caused it to lose
Malay votes, but what is clear is
more Malays voted for PAS in the
by-election than they did in the
general election last year.
This was despite the high-
powered campaign led by prime
minister in-waiting Datuk Seri
Najib Abdul Razak and the federal
government’s generosity in dish-
ing out grants and the promise of
a deputy minister’s post for the son
of Kuala Terengganu, and the ap-
parent lack of organisation in the
Opposition camp – with PAS, DAP
and Parti Keadilan Rakyat going
separate ways in campaigning.
Press Digest
by Kong See Hoh
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
The daily attributed BN’s defeat
to:
» the wind of change, as more
people are unhappy that BN has not
changed since the last general elec-
tion while some are irked by the
perceived bias in the giving out of
allocations and the fact that projects
and works were not trickling down
to small local contractors;
» Umno infighting, with mem-
bers aligned to the former and
present mentris besar still at odds
with each other since the MB ap-
pointment fiasco despite emphasis
by the party that they have closed
ranks;
» Apart from the mentri besar,
who gave his 100% in campaigning
for the BN candidate, Umno leaders
from other states were seen work-
ing harder than their Terengganu
counterparts; and
» the candidates’ strengths
– BN’s Wan Farid was accused of
being aloof whereas Mohd Abdul
Wahid of PAS came across as an
affable person, giving the voters a
much better impression.
Nanyang Siang Pau noted that
the PAS victory not only increased
Pakatan Rakyat’s MP tally to 83 but
also boosted the opposition coali-
tion’s image.
But what is worth noting was
the swing in the votes of Chinese,
dubbed the kingmaker in this
by-election, towards the BN. This
had allowed the two Chinese-
based component parties in the
BN, MCA and Gerakan, who were
tasked with garnering Chinese
support for Wan Farid, to breathe
a sigh of relief although there was
nothing much more they could do
to change the result. A state MCA
leader said the BN lost despite the
swing in Chinese votes in favour of
the government coalition, giving an
indication of the big swing of Malay
votes towards the Opposition.
The daily’s comment also noted
the low Chinese voter turnout of
below 70%, most probably because
those who are outstation did not
return to vote due to the proximity
of the by-election to the Chinese
New Year home-coming.
Sin Chew Daily opined that there
is no fundamental shift in Kuala
Terengganu and that PAS won on
“technical advantages”.
The daily noted that PAS’s win
by a 2,631-vote majority is not a
thumping victory, and Malay votes
were pivotal.
It said in the March 8 elections,
BN garnered 47% of the Malay votes
and won the seat because it had
the support of 64% of the Chinese
votes.
This time around it is estimated
that BN lost another 2% of the Malay
votes, which was small but because
there was not much change in the
number of Chinese votes going to
the BN, PAS was able to wrest back
the seat from the BN.
Don ‘t harp on funds
allocation: Guan Eng
GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minis-
ter Lim Guan Eng has urged
the Penang Chinese Town
Hall (PCTH) not to harp on the
state government’s priority in
fund allocation.
He said the funds were
limited and could only be
used for social activities which
benefited the people.
Speaking to reporters after
putting up Chinese New Year
BCorp cultural and heritage celebra-
sets up tion banners in the city yes-
stock- terday, Lim reiterated that the
broking PCTH celebration is a private
function, not a state initiative.
firm in It was reported last week
Vietnam
that the state government
pg 16 did not give the allocation of
Selangor spent RM2.3m
on Toyota Camry cars
SHAH ALAM: Selangor spent
RM2,356,123.35 to buy the 15
Toyota Camry 2.4 cars for use
by its executive councillors
and senior officers, said Mentri
Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid
Ibrahim.
Via a statement which he
promised to issue after the
state executive council meet-
ing last Wednesday, he said
each of the Camry, bought at
RM157,074.89 after a RM10,000
discount, comes with a three-
11
RM15,000 to PCTH due to the
economic crisis.
“The issue should be put
to rest, as PCTH received the
allocation from the federal
government through the Unity,
Culture, Arts and Heritage
Ministry recently,” Lim added.
He said the state govern-
ment will hold its Chinese
New Year celebrations at
Campbell Street from 6.30pm
to 10.30pm on Jan 29.
The Chinese New Year
cultural and heritage celebra-
tions will be held in the George
Town heritage area on Feb 1,
from noon to midnight, and
will feature cultural perform-
ances.
year warranty.
Reiterating what he had
said on Wednesday, Abdul
Khalid said: “It costs the state
RM694,735.55 to maintain the
Proton Perdanas it owned.”
There were several in-
stances when the gear boxes
of some three-year-old Proton
Perdana had to be changed
twice in two years, he said. It
is understood that the cost of
changing each gear box was
more than RM20,000.