Rahamat Idil Latip’s mobile phone continued to ring even as he was being interviewed by Malaysiakini .

"They have been chasing me since nomination day. At first, they went around my kampung seeking the would-be candidate, proposer and seconder. Now they go one step further - offering me RM300,000 cash to withdraw," Idil said over breakfast near PKR headquarters in Matang, Kuching.

Idil, the PKR candidate in Santubong , is taking on BN-PBB Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who is seeking his fifth term in Parliament. Idil is also PKR Sarawak Youth chief whereas Wan Junaidi is PBB appointed supreme council member.

"I have been telling them RM300,000 is too little ... not enough to go around, and jokingly said they should offer me RM3 million. They took it seriously and said they would discuss the matter with their superiors," Idil quipped.

Idil is contemplating his next move but is keeping it close to his chest.

Threatened by SMS

Another PKR candidate, Hussain Abang Apok, has lodged a police report on a threat he received via SMS last night for refusing to negotiate his withdrawal from the contest.

PKR is involved in a three-cornered fight in Kota Samarahan with BN-PBB candidate Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib - the 39-year-old corporate son of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud - and an Independent.

According to the official spokesperson for the party, Hussain received a call from a woman who called herself Zaiton seeking to negotiate with him to withdraw his candidacy but he rebuffed her.

This was followed by the threatening SMS from the same number.

At about 9 pm, Hussain and several party supporters went to the police station to lodge the report.

The police have since kept Hussain’s SIM card for investigation.

Sulaiman is contesting in the election for the first time, succeeding his father who had served as Kota Samarahan parliamentarian for nearly four decades. Taib Mahmud had retained the seat unopposed in 2004.

Kota Samarahan has an electorate of 24,412 registered voters, of whom nearly 50 percent are Iban while Melanau make up about 40 percent.

Under the election laws, candidates have up to yesterday to withdraw from the contest.

Mosquito-breeding ground

Meanwhile, Idil laughed off the claim by Junaidi - the incumbent in Santubong - that there were no issues in the constituency.

"There are so many of them - the termination of the native customary rights, land issues and zero-planning development," he named a few.

He cited the development of Bako Industrial Area as an example - after having been completed years ago, the majority of the factories there remain vacant.

"This is a multi-million project. I think not more than five lots of factory and one shoplot is occupied, the rest have become mosquito-breeding ground,” he lamented.

Idil also pointed out that villagers in Kampung Muhibbah in Pending are still waiting for a concrete jetty to be completed - not for one or two years, but 50 years.

"Go to Kampung Tabuan and see for yourself how bad the drainage system is there, which has resulted in dengue outbreaks, while the social ills in Demak Laut area has reached chronic levels," he fumed.