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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Banners of Waytha's Hindraf emerge in Gelang Patah



DAY 12 What's happening during the election campaigns around the country today? Quotable quotes, planned events and unplanned incidents as they take place.

6.00pm - Gelang Patah: Among the BN and Pakatan flags that have flooded the constituency, small yellow flags are spotted today near the Sutera Mall open car park where Pakatan used to hold its mammoth rallies.

NONEApparently, the yellow flags represent P Waythamoorthy’s faction of Hindraf, the group which has been reported as supporting the BN coalition after caretaker Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak accepted its blueprint for the Indian community.

The movement is slated to hold a ceramah in the constituency tomorrow night and featuring its chief P Waythamoorthy.

It is not surprising for Hindraf to campaign for BN here as Indian voters make up 12 percent of the total voters in Gelang Patah, one of the key seats in this general election which is being contested by Lim Kit Siang from DAP and Abdul Ghani Othman from BN.  

Today, the constituency also sees new BN banners featuring Najib. The big banners in both the Chinese and Malay languages read, "Support me, vote for BN". 

2.30pm - Putrajaya: 
PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim speaks to a 3,000-strong crowd at Precinct 3 in Putrajaya, as he attempts to shore up even more support from the civil service for Pakatan Rakyat and its Putrajaya candidate, PAS' Husam Musa.

NONEAnwar promised to restore the professionalism of the civil service, and said that the current caretaker government's move to bring in foreign consultants are undermining the skills of the local civil service in the country.

His fiery 30-minute speech is received enthusiastically by the mixed crowd, who braved the afternoon heat to sit and stand around the parking lot where the ceramah is taking place.

His appearance there comes shortly after former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad came down to Putrajaya to urge the civil service to continue backing the current caretaker government.

Putrajaya, normally a BN fortress, has turned into a proper electoral battleground as Husam's relatively strong machinery looks set to give incumbent Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor of BN a run for his money.

1.05pm - Segamat: 
The Jementah town comes to a sudden standstill as more than 500 locals flood the street where DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is speaking, despite the hot afternoon weather.

NONETaking a leaf from caretaker Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's stunt in Penang, he asks: "Are you ready for BN?" to which the mostly Chinese crowd replied, "No!".

Lim (left in photo) also urges the people to back DAP's Jementah candidate Lee Chen Choon.

The crowd later swarms the stage as they stretch out various items for Lim's autograph. Traffic is slow as the crowd has spilled on to the main road. 

12.21pm - Kota Belud: 
More than 2,000 people are here to celebrate the annual harvest festival Keamatan at the town field.

Kota Belud is host to state level celebrations this year, and officiating the event is caretaker state Chief Minister Musa Aman.

NONEHe tells the audience that the Keamatan festival is proof of the harmony and tolerance among the various races and religions in Sabah under the BN government.

He also reminded all that Usukan - which is located within the parliamentary constituency of Kota Belud - is the birthplace of Sabah Umno, and is its stronghold.

The Unduk Ngadau competition, an annual beauty contest of sorts held in conjunction with Keamatan, is stopped for a short while to respect the azan.

Kota Belud is contested by incumbent Abdul Rahman Dahlan for BN. He is going against PKR greenhorn Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis and three others.

11.45am - Segamat: 
BN's Segamat candidate S Subramaniam says he is facing a tough fight and needs to serve an antidote to those whose minds were "poisoned within a short period of time" by PKR rival Chua Jui Meng.

"We believe our base is okay and we are now focusing on fence-sitters and those who have been ‘poisoned’, especially among young voters.

NONE"It is tough because - one, is the political climate of change, two, is my opponent and three, they are making a concerted effort to give me a tough fight and we have had to work twice as hard," he adds.

Subramaniam (left), who is also the caretaker human resources minister, is also continuing his pre-emptive strike against the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) for wanting to picket against him in his constituency later today, just four days to the general election.

"There are certain parties which want to solve issues through blackmail, we cannot allow this culture to thrive," he says during a Labour Day celebration in Segamat this morning.

Asked later if the "blackmail" he mentioned is a reference NUBE, he replies, "Not specifically to them, but what they are doing is similar to that".

11.30am - Sungai Siput: 
About 40 residents from Cameron Highland - most of them vegetable garden owners - visit the service centre of SK Devamany to show support to the latter by holding up banners and passing out strawberries.

NONEDevamany had been the Cameron Highland MP for two terms, before he was assigned to contest in Sungai Siput this time round.

Speaking to the press, KC Looi, the Ringlet new village chief, says that they here to tell the Sungai Siput voters to support Devamany as he is a friendly parliamentarian, as well as a “nice deputy minister of the Prime Minister's Department”.

"If his service is poor, we wouldn’t be here," he adds.

10.30am - Sungai Suput: 
As May Day this year falls in the general election campaign period, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) is unable to hold a big celebration as they are going all-in into the campaign.

Instead, Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj (right in photo) - who contests under the PKR ticket in the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat - is holding a small celebration in front of his service centre.

NONEAddressing his short speech to 20 people, most of whom are his campaign workers and party members, the incumbent Sungai Siput MP criticises the BN government's policy which is said to be pro-corporate and investors, consequently making the workers suffer instead.

"If they (the corporations and investors) are happy, and the workers' wages are lowered, the union will be weaker. Less corporate taxes will be levied to the corporates, but taxes for the people increase," he says.

He urges the people to abandon the corrupted BN government and support Pakatan Rakyat to fight for the rights of the workers.

However, he adds that there is still a long way to go for the workers to be more organised to make sure that Pakatan policy will not be aligned with that of the rich corporates.

There is a three-corner fight in Sungai Siput, where Jeyakumar is facing the challenge from MIC vice-president SK Devamany and Independent SP Nagalingam.

10.00am - Lembah Pantai:
 Signages warning off "phantom" and other fraudulent voters are spotted in Bangsar today.

NONEOne banner, seen in Jalan Kemuja, warns those intending to vote with fake MyKads that their safety "is not guaranteed" if caught.

"If you are caught trying to vote using a fake IC, you will be handed over to the police.

"While waiting for police arrival, your safety is not guaranteed," states the banner by Kami Anak Bangsa Malaysia, written in English, Indonesian and another foreign language.

Meanwhile an anti-phantom voter signboard, replicating the famous Ghost Busters symbol is affixed in front of the Jalan Bangsar Tamil school, just opposite of the Malaysiakini office. 

9.17am - Kota Kinabalu: Semporna police have confirmed that BN members had attacked PAS supporters with baseball bats, crash helmets and iron rods last Sunday.

Supt Mohd Azhar Hamin, the police spokesperson for the election campaign perio, was quoted in The Borneo Post as saying that it happened after "provocation following a speech by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim".

He reportedly confirmed that BN members had threatened to burn down the PAS office. The police have recorded the statements of 30 witness.

melanie chia sapp sabah wanita 180509Semporna district police chief Mohd Firdaus Francis Abdullah had told Malaysiakini on Monday that the incident stemmed from both sides arguing over where to hang flags and posters.

Meanwhile, SAPP has lodged a police report against DAP for allegedly spreading false information that it received RM80 million from BN to split the Pakatan Rakyat vote.

Luyang candidate Melanie Chia (right), who has condemned the "culture of hatred", has claimed that DAP flew in people from the peninsula to spread rumours.

8.00am - Gelang Patah: Thirteen university student groups - including Solidarity Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) and Islamic Students Federation (Gamis) - have come to this parliamentary constituency to support DAP's candidate Lim Kit Siang.

Holding a press conference with Lim, GE13 Students Movement (GM13) chief Syis Abdul Kadir says the 13 student groups are campaigning for Pakatan Rakyat to reject gutter politics, and that they came to Gelang Patah as this is one of the key seats in this general election. 

Mohd Safwan Anang from Universiti Malaya (UM) says he is disappointed that UM authorities have screened the controversial ‘Tanda Putera’ film to UM students.

NONE“We feel that the university should explain the screening of ‘Tanda Putera’ to the students, especially the Malay students. Are they trying to raise racial issues? We as students are very disappointed and we reject the culture of slander,” he adds.

There are also some 400 cyclists who are participating in a 46km cycling convoy to show their solidarity to Lim. The convoy is flagged off by Lim at the outdoor car park of Sutera Mall.

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