DAY 12 TELUK INTAN What’s happening in the by-election campaign in the parliamentry constituency of Teluk Intan?
Latest developments:
- Gerakan conducts own survey, says voters not confident with 'outsider' Dyana
Follow us as we update you with quotable quotes, planned events and unplanned incidents as they take place:
Dyana makes final campaign speech
11.30pm: DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud has made her final campaign speech draped in black baju kurung and a scarf, addressing a massive crowd of over 10,000 people in DAP’s ‘Super Friday’ ceramah.
However, DAP, including their parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang have claimed that 20,000 people attended the ceramah today.
The BN ceramah on the other hand is still witnessing many empty chairs.
Malaysiakini will go live with the polling and counting process for the by-election tomorrow.
Polling will start at 8am, and closes at 5pm. Counting will begin at SMK Abdul Rahman Talib in Jalan Changkat Jong after 5pm.
If the process is smooth, the Election Commission (EC) will announce the results by 9pm.
Anwar can't be trusted, says Lokman Adam
11.30pm: Former Umno Youth exco member Lokman Noor Adam says PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and the opposition can't be trusted.
If Puteri Gunung Ledang were alive today, Anwar would promise her basket of mosquitos' hearts, he says.
He urges the voters to choose BN candidate Mah Siew Keong.
BN event draws not more than 70
10.30pm: Meanwhile, a BN finale ceramah is being held near the Teluk Intan leaning tower, and has attracted not more than 70 people, leaving many chairs empty.
The ceramah is being conducted with a massive backdrop saying ‘Undilah BN untuk Masa Depan Teluk Intan’ (Vote for BN for Teluk Intan’s future).
Currently speaking is Lokman Noor Adam, who is with the Special Affair Department (Jasa) under the Communications Ministry.
The ceramah does not have any heavyweights listed as amongst its speakers.
The other speakers include Penang Gerakan Youth’s Rich Too, and former Kedah DAP vice-chairperson Tony Tan.
10,000 fill up Jalan Mahkota square
9.45pm: As polling day looms, a massive crowd has turned up to attend DAP’s grand finale ceramah being held at Jalan Mahkota square in Teluk Intan town.
About 10,000 people have filled up the square to listen to Pakatan Rakyat leaders speak, spilling over on the main road and some even watching from sidewalks of shop lots nearby.
The massive crowd is expected to further expand as more senior DAP leaders come later in the night, including candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.
DAP's Seremban MP Anthony Loke tells the crowd to call all their friends who are voters in Teluk Intan to return in numbers for tomorrow's election.
Most of them are clad in red.
Polling starts at 8am tomorrow in 37 voting districts, for over 60,000 voters.
Indications that outstation voters are returning
9pm: A traffic jam more than 1kim long appears along Jalan Changkot Jong, a sign that outstation voters are driving back to Teluk Intan.
According to a local, such a traffic jam is abnormal for Friday night, where the traffic came from Bidor and Sungkai after exiting the North-South Expressway.
The cars were mostly local Perak and Kuala Lumpur cars, heading toward Teluk Intan town.
They may have driven all the way from Kuala Lumpur after work tonight.
Teluk Intan witnesses a tough fight between BN candidate Mah Siew Keong and DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, where outstation votes are a key factor to determine the victory.
A high turnout rate of 80 percent was recorded in the last general election, where the late Seah Leong Peng was able to defeat Mah with a majority of 7,313 votes.
Ku Li: DAP smart in getting a young person
6.55pm: “It is DAP’s prerogative, why don’t you ask me why they (BN) put an old man. He’s very wise?” says Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah when asked at a press conference in Penang today.
“It is a question of tactics by DAP, they are smart in getting a young person to be fielded in that constituency,” he adds.
“Winning or losing is a different matter. It is a political tactic and calculation of the DAP leadership,” he stresses.
Mah: I won't join cabinet as senator
5.45pm: Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong reiterates his stand that he will not accept any cabinet post based on his appointment as a senator.
He insisted that he would only accept a cabinet post if he was elected as a member of parliament for Teluk Intan.
"I still have to work hard to win first.
"I already stressed that if I lose I won’t be a senator," he tells reporters after attending a breakfast session with 25 non-governmental organisations representing the Indian community
Shahrizat: We have to rise above anything
5pm: Umno Wanita chief Sharizat Abdul Jalil disagrees with all the racist and sexist remarks made during the by-election in Teluk Intan.
“I think what we need to do in the election, we have to rise above everything,” she says when asked about the racist campaign and sexist remarks appearing in the by-election campaign, which include Umno minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan’s lipstick sexist remarks.
“For wanita, we look at the most substantive issues,” she said on the final day of the election campaign.
During the election campaign, DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud became the target of sexist and racist attacks.
Sharizat is attending a kenduri rakyat at an Internet room at Kampung Selabak, where the kampung folk are preparing food for over 200 people.
Kampung Selabak is a BN stronghold, with 96 percent Malay. BN candidate Mah Siew Keong was able to grab 80.1 percent of the votes here in the last general election.
A BN campaigner who is stationed at the polling district says they are more relaxed now, as they know most of the voters here will vote for BN.
“By speaking with the voters, we know which side they will vote for. We are trained to observe that,” said the campaigner.
Another poster defaced
3.45pm: Another poster of DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud was found sabotaged at Jalan Padang Tembak, near the entrance of Taman Jaya.
Dyana’s image had been blackened while there was a drawing on her chest.
The place was just a 10-minute drive from Teluk Intan town.
'A minister, but only if Mah wins'
12.50pm: Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan says today that Teluk Intan voters will lose out if they don’t vote for Mah, as he is a shoo-in for a cabinet minister position but only if the Gerakan president wins the by-election.
"This is a rare offering.
"There are only 16 party presidents in this country and 222 Parliament constituencies.
"Coincidentally, Mah is from Teluk Intan.
"If DAP candidate Dyana Sofya wins, 'confirm' she won't be made a minister," Ahmad tells reporters in Putrajaya today after a lecture on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at Masjid Tuanku Mizan in Putrajaya.
SOS to outstation voters
12noon: In the final campaign day for Teluk Intan, DAP today again sends out SOS messages to outstation voters to come home to vote.
“I want to send out SOS stage three to outstation voters to come back to vote,” says DAP supremo leader Lim Kit Siang at a last press conference held today.
DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud now stands only a 47 percent chance of retaining the seat, two percent lower than BN candidate Mah Siew Keong, he says.
This is not only regarding making decisions for Teluk Intan, but to decide on a new politics in Malaysia which is free of racist politics, and it would be a new politics which advocates justice and accountability, he says.
“It’s okay only, but still dangerous,” responds its campaign director Tony Pua when asked about the rate of outstation voters returning home.
MB: Expect Pakatan to bring out crowd tonight
10am: Some 200 members from an Indian NGO breakfasting with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Perak MB Zambry Abdul Kadir and BN candidate Mah Siew Keong observe a moment of silence to mourn the death of the late Sultan of Perak, Raja Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah.
Speaking during the breakfast session at Rest House in Bandar Baru, Zambry says he expects the opposition to gather a big crowd as tonight is the last night of campaigning.
This, he predicts further, will cause traffic congestion in the town which in turn will anger the locals, so much so that they will vote against the ruling government.
He thus reminds the locals to aware of such tactics by the opposition and people shall not be trapped by this.
Gerakan survey: Dyana should focus on local issues
9.30am: A survery conducted by Gerakan Youth on some 500 voters surmises that Teluk Intan residents are not confident in DAP candidate Dyana Sofya’s ability to grasp local needs.
The New Straits Times reports that is according the fact Dyana is not originally from the constituency.
The daily quotes Gerakan Youth deputy treasurer Chan Tzun Hei as saying based on the survey conducted a week ago, voters wanted Dyana to focus on more local issues.
'Babi' written on Dyana's poster
9am: Constituents in Teluk Intan wake up to discover that one of the poster featuring DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud was vandalised.
The word 'babi' (pig) was written on the poster, located beside Jalan Sultan Abdullah, near Hotel Intan, clearly as a means to disrespect the Malay-Muslim candidate.
Background:
- The seat fell vacant after former MP Seah Leong Peng, from DAP, passed away due to cancer on May 1.
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