DAY7 KUALA BESUT Quotable quotes, planned events and unplanned incidents as they take place in the run-up to polls.
5.00pm: MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai has a walkabout in sleepy Kuala Besut town following dissatisfaction expressed by MCA Besut division that no top MCA leader had paid them a visit since nomination day.
There are just 150 Chinese voters, which is not even one percent of the 17,683 total on the electoral roll.
12.40pm: Husam clarified the importance of securing the 16:16 position, in which the state of Terengganu state assembly cannot pass the state budget without the consent of the other party.
"We can discuss the budget and plans which are acceptable to the people of Terengganu.
"Terengganu will have alternative ways and the government cannot act as it pleases," he said.
He added that he and 16 other assembly members will take responsibility for the economic and long term social development plans of the state, including the long-term use of RM1.8 billion petroleum money for the state's development.
12.35pm: PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefli Ahmad explained its 16:16 agenda for a New Terengganu, which is the theme of PAS in the election campaign in Kuala Besut.
He said the agenda was to look after the welfare and end the marginalisation of people.
"If the electoral constituency of Kuala Besut allows it to happen, the marginalisation of the population and denial to achieve wealth for Terengganu people will cease.
"When the people ask for land, the government said there was no land, but it is clear to the people's representatives that the land of the people has been taken by the state government," he said.
He was responding to statements by Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who said that the 16:16 agenda was "absurd, had no direction and would lead the people of Terengganu backwards".
12.30pm: In the press conference, Husam also challenged Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek to a debate with him or with PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli.
This relates to the issue of wealth distribution in Malaysia today following the exposure of land and hotel ownership issues associated with Umno leaders.
He suggested that a forum or debate be titled: How can people live as free and easy as Umno leaders?
He said Rafizi has agreed to participate in the debate or forum on July 19 (tomorrow) and the place will be announced later.
"If Shabery Cheek does not show up, Rafizi will go ahead and lecture alone. This issue is important because Terengganu's wealth is overflowing," he said.
12.15pm:
PAS president Husam Musa claims that the issue of the one hectare of beach land each involving four Besut Umno members was “deliberately leaked” to PAS by an unnamed party.“That’s how we got the information. If the information had not been leaked, it would have been hard to come by,” he says at a press conference.
When asked on the identity of his source, Husam declined to respond.
Instead, he says Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Said’s
confirmation
of the matter was “positive” and welcomed that the allegation has been confirmed.
When asked if the issue has resulted in two camps within Umno, one aligned to former MB (and Besut MP) Idris Jusoh and the other to Ahmad, Husam said this cannot be denied.
“But this is good for the ordinary citizen. (Ahmad’s) motive is unclear but his coming forward with an admission is good. It is the silence of some other assemblypersons that is not so good,” he said.
“What’s strange is Idris Jusoh continues to keep quiet on this. The MB was forced to make the admission, when rightfully it is this assemblyperson who should have done so.
“The MB should not have needed to get involved,” he says.
9.40am: Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Said arrives in Pulau Perhentian with a doctor for a full day of campaigning.
"Datuk (Seri Ahmad) helped, he brought me here," the doctor said to one patient, as he accompanied Ahmad house-to-house dispensing pills and giving the occasional injection.
Ahmad's (
right
) arrival via a Royal Customs Department speedboat was greeted by a flotilla of about 30 boats bearing BN and Umno flags.
Among his first actions upon arrival on the polling district of 734 voters there was to rename the fishing village there 'Kampung Perhentian Permai', from its old name of 'Kampung Tradisi Pulau Perhentian'.
He then nails a sign bearing the new address onto 10 houses near the beach before moving deeper into the village and the doctor goes to work.
"I normally do bring doctors into villages once every few months," Ahmad told reporters.
He added that the village was renamed because the new name is more interested and would suit the village's status as a tourism destination, as well as development projects to come.
He said the main purpose of his visit there was to inspect the progress of the construction of several projects on the island announced several years ago, but which were stalled by the logistical challenges of bringing construction materials onto the island.
Besides medical aid and a new address, Ahmad also brought gifts of food and wheelchairs, while 34 children at a kindergarten received RM50 each.
He is expected to stay overnight on the island and break fast with the villages, joined by BN candidate Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abdul Rahman later.
Reporting by Abdul Rahim Sabri, Lee Long Hui & Koh Jun Lin
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