LIVE from KT: Pas clinches nail-biting victory

Anil Netto
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Bemused Light Strike Force personnel keep an eye on the good-humoured exchange and canvassing outside the Chendering School. Thousands of police have been deployed

k-terengganu-polling-day-003Exuberant Pas supporters outnumber the BN folks just before noon: This scene is repeated in other streets of KT today.

The final majority is 2,631.  Congrats, blog reader Rahman S; you came really close with your “2,968 votes with +-2% error” prediction! Thanks to all who helped with information from the counting centre and the media. Outside I can hear a whole convoy of honking motorbikes and other vehicles passing on the main road. As in Permatang Pauh, it was the celebrating motorcyclists who were the first to be so sure of victory soon after polling stations had closed…

2105: Pas leads by 2,424 in the official tally, with two boxes left. It’s impossible for the BN to catch up.

Congratulations to the victors! Where does this leave Najib? Anyway, now I can have something to eat! But first, we are off to check out the scene on the streets.

2104: Pas leads by 2,400 votes with three more boxes left.

2103: It’s now a 1,700 majority with 10 boxes more to be counted.

2102: Pas has stretched its lead to 1,500, as it enters the home straight. Eighteen boxes more to be counted.

2058: Pas has now widened its official lead to 1,300. What a roller-coaster ride this has been!

2051: Pas has now taken a 900-majority lead, according to the official tally.

2049: Officially, Pas leads by 600 votes now.

2043: According to an unofficial Pas source, still unconfirmed, as related to an activist, Pas has won. According to another source, who just phones up, the unofficial majority is 2,700 or so. But let’s see how the official results pan out.

2031: According to unofficial sources, Pas has taken a 2,700-majority lead with over 100 boxes out of 144 counted. Officially, Pas is in the lead by 200 votes.

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A hugely significant by-election

Anil Netto
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By-Poll Will Test Political Drift By Anil Netto KUALA TERENGGANU, Jan 16 (IPS) – Following the political tsunami in March, which propelled a disparate opposition alliance to power in five of 13 Malaysian states, voters in the capital of oil-rich Terengganu state will determine Saturday if an ‘east coast monsoon’ will drive the alliance closer to national power. This key parliamentary by-election in itself will not change anything as the ruling coalition holds a 137-82 majority over the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance) in Parliament. But it is hugely symbolic since Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is leading the ruling Barisan Nasional’s campaign, is seeking to use by-election to hammer home his credentials as prime minister-in-waiting. Full story here.

BN’s last big ceramah

Anil Netto
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k-terengganu-by-election-005The BN uses a stadium that could fill 20,000 for its last big ceramah last night, complete with a stage for an open-air concert. But just about 3,000 turn up during the time we were there between 9.00pm and 10.00pm Among the speakers urging the crowd to support the BN is Hishamuddin Hussein. I finally solve the mystery of the Information Department trailer. You see the vehicle partly hidden by the the bus? See the stripes? This appears to be the same trailer that we spotted parked in town a couple of days ago.

I stroll up the field closer to the vehicle and discover that paper has been stuck on the side of the vehicle to cover up the name of the department to which the trailer belongs. Similarly, other lorries and pick-ups have paper stuck on the sides to cover up the names of organisations.

This was the trailer we spotted in town a couple of days ago. Why do they plaster paper on the sides of the vehicles used for events like this – unless they are trying to cover up something: the abuse of government property for election campaigning?
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Opposition buoyant as campaigning draws to a close

Anil Netto
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Pakatan supporters in upbeat mood ahead of the polls: this was the scene at a main road in KT at around 4.00pm, when Pas, DAP and PKR supporters waved at passing motorists.  Among the enthusiastic road-side flag-wavers were bloggers from KL and activists from the PJ Abolish ISA vigils

2010: It’s proving to be hard to call, but Pakatan supporters are quietly confident that their candidate will coast through with a 1,000 to 2,000-vote majority. A few are predicting a bigger majority. Much will depend on whether Pas can build on the support it already has.

The Pakatan campaigners are everywhere. When I take time off this evening to look up the house I lived in when I was seven along Jalan Cerong Lanjut – I actually find the terrace house still standing, much to my delight – I notice a familiar figure walking up to the Hindu temple nearby. I take a closer look and it is Sivarasa Rasiah from PKR accompanied by a DAP activist. I stroll back to the old house and promptly run into a couple more DAP activists, who are making the rounds.

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LIVE from KT: The buzz at a Chinese cafe

Anil Netto
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1100: We return to the same cafe where we had roti paun yesterday. This seems to be a happening place. Seated at the table by the entrace, a couple of Pas volunteers are working on a laptop. They have also blown small green Pas balloons which bob around. Inside the crowded cafe, the sound of chatter fills the air. People are reading the Chinese newspapers. At a table near us, a Chinese guy is looking at the front page of the latest Suara Keadilan, with the headline “Najib bohong” about the Permatang Pauh pledges.
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Jewish women protest inside Israeli consulate in Toronto

Anil Netto
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Here’s a protest against what’s happening in Gaza that you wouldn’t have seen in the mainstream media.

A message from Permatang Pauh voters

Anil Netto
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One of the PKR’s messages to the voters in KT is, don’t be taken in by promises of grants, aid and development. Anwar himself has been hammering home the message to voters here, citing what happened during the Permatang Pauh by-election last August. During the Permatang Pauh by-election a number of promises were made especially pledges of aid to mosques. Folks there are now alleging that the promises remain unfulfilled. It’s the front page story in the latest Suara Keadilan this week. Check it out here.
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T’ganu’s debt, deficit soars despite return of royalties

Anil Netto
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k-terengganu-by-election-002The oil royalties may have been returned, but the state’s debt has been rising and it posted a deficit for 2007

One night, when I was unable to fall asleep, I opened up the Auditor-General’s Report for 2007, thinking it might be a cure for insomnia, but what I saw caught me completely by surprise. I found out that the state once again started receiving its oil royalties from the federal government (coming from the Dana Khas or Special Fund). No surprise there: 2003 – Nil 2004 – RM150 million 2005 – RM1,015 million 2006 – RM1,334 million 2007 – RM1,000 million But, and this is where it gets interesting, the state government’s debt to the federal government has been rising during the same period: 2003 – RM891 million 2004 – RM919 million 2005 – RM922 million 2006 – RM903 million 2007 – RM937 million These are largely due to federal loans, taken out for “water supply” and “low-cost housing” projects. Despite the substantially increased income to the state, Terengganu’s accounts show a deficit of RM284 million for 2007 compared to a surplus of RM184 million for 2006.
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Dirty tricks surface in Kuala Terengganu

Anil Netto
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Pakatan workers found this fake newspaper yesterday trying to pass itself as the Terengganu Pas newsletter, Kuala, when it is actually running down the Pas candidate (at the bottom left) as someone who is a sleepy-head.

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LIVE from KT: DAP says it’s about reforms, not hudud

Anil Netto
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k-terengganu-by-election-020DAP leaders at a press conference this afternoon in KT

1400: The DAP holds a press conference to deflect criticism that its cooperation with Pas in the by-election is promoting Islamic hudud laws. Party adviser Lim Kit Siang addresses a host of Chinese media journalists. Kit Siang tells them the by-election is not about hudud, but about whether the momentum for political reform unleashed by the political tsunami can be extended to the East Coast. He is responding to the MCA’s demand that the DAP should apologise for promoting hudud through its cooperation with Pas. He points out it is the MCA which should apologise for the party’s record of abuse of power and undermining of democracy.
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LIVE from KT: Nasi dagang next to river bank eyesore

Anil Netto
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k-terengganu-by-election-019A spectacular view marred by a landfill, which stretches hundreds of metres parallel to the KT river bank, next to Jalan Bandar 1200: We have lunch inside one of the old Chinese homes along the Terengganu River. The interior of the house is long, the century-old building having been extended closer and closer to the river-bank over the years. One of the residents kindly invites us to lunch: nasi dagang, local rice with tuna fish wrapped in banana leaf and served with curry. What would have been a fabulous view from the wooden verandah over the river bank is marred by a narrow landfill that stretches for hundreds of metres, parallel to the river banks. A relative of the houseowner tells me the landfill was done for the Monsoon Cup. Whatever the reason, it has spoilt what would have been a terrific waterfront setting.

LIVE from K T’ganu: The battle for the Chinese vote

Anil Netto
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k-terengganu-by-election-007PKR activists and volunteers canvas passing motorists along Jalan Bandar in Kampong Cina this morning

1130: We walk into the Chinatown area, at Jalan Bandar, not far from Hotel Sri Malaysia and immediately spot about a dozen PKR politicians canvassing passing motorists. Among them are Elizabeth Wong and Tian Chua. “We are confident of (Jalan) Bandar (Kampong Cina) area,” the folks tell me. About 60 per cent of the Chinese vote in the bag, apparently. We shall see. They get a fairly good reception from passing motorists, who have slowed to a crawl.
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LIVE from K T’ganu: Roti paun and a mysterious vehicle

Anil Netto
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k-terengganu-by-election-001What’s this Information Department trailer doing here?

1030: We wake up a little late after last night’s late-night exertions and troop out to have some breakfast at a Chinese cafe nearby: they have run out of pau, so we sip coffee with Terengganu’s roti paun (little bun), which is toasted small rectangular bread loaf made up of four little buns with margarine inside. That should keep us going till lunch. This trip is turning out to be a gastronomic adventure as well! On the way out, we spot a mysterious trailer from the Information Department parked not far away. High windows on each side, all heavily tinted. At the rear is a foldable pick up extension, which can be used for lifting heavy loads. What’s it doing here and what’s inside it, we wonder.
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Reflections on the floods in Kuching

Anil Netto
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Blog reader Anak Kuching shares with us his thoughts about the floods that hit the Sarawak capital: Many comments both official and unoffical have been made each time there is a flood in Kuching. The 2009 flood – was it as bad as the last one in 2004? Perhaps just as bad but the media didn’t highlight some of the areas as intensely this time like they did in 2004. Was it due to the fact it was supposed to be a happy week for Sarawakians on the Chief Minister’s 50th wedding anniversary? I have heard of floods in the same areas as before. Locals blame it ignorantly or otherwise on the barrage and causeway across to Bako. I am pretty sure these two (the barrage and causeway) played a role in the flood. To what extent, perhaps one will have to go further back into the history of floods in Kuching and its surrounding areas and make comparisons then and now.
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First the Political Tsunami, now the East Coast Monsoon?

Anil Netto
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k-terengganu-by-election-030The Chinese in Kuala Terengganu turned up in numbers for the DAP dinner

2248: We make our way to Ocean Restaurant about 4km away. Here the DAP is hosting a large dinner for a few hundred guests. Outside, a couple of hundred other people are trying to peer through every open window and door. Perhaps 800 in all. At the main table are top DAP and Pas leaders. The response from the crowd seems positive. We have seen enough; it doesn’t look as if the Pakatan will encounter any problems in securing the Chinese vote despite the mainstream media’s – and Karpal’s  – best efforts in highlighting the Pas-DAP divide over the issue. As we walk to the car park, we hear a familiar voice on the microphone (was it Kit Siang?) inside the restaurant. “The people of Kuala Terengganu have a tryst with destiny on January 17,” booms The Voice.

k-terengganu-by-election-016Anwar addressing a PKR ceramah at Pulau Kambing

2100: We land up at Pulau Kambing, KT, where a small PKR ceramah is in progress near some low-cost flats. Saifuddin Nasution is speaking and Anwar is about to arrive. The crowd is multi-ethnic. Anwar’s plane is delayed, the talk goes, but then he shows up. He tells the crowd of about 500 that the hudud controversy is a non-issue. “The BN folks hate to see us united and want to split us. In the five Pakatan-ruled states, do you see any problem over this issue?” He refers to the front-page story in the latest edition of the PKR newspaper, Suara Keadilan, which highlights Najib’s allegedly unfulfilled promises of allocations for mosques and other institutions made during the Permatang Pauh by-election. “Don’t be swayed by whatever they promise. If they offer you aid, take it and then vote for us!” Pas youth chief Salahuddin Ayub address the crowd next and highlights the issue of the oil royalties and points out that Terengganu has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. We bump into a few media people and the conensus is that Pas has a 60:40 edge (optimistically) or a 55;45 edge (realistically). An independent Chinese-language journalist who has been here right from the start of the campaign tells me she has been doing street polls. For the Chinese, she says, their concerns tends to centre on issues of accountability and corruption. “The hudud thing is not a big issue here.” A DAP worker later seems to concur, suggesting it could be 50-plus:40-plus in favour of Pas. This ties in neatly with what Kassim had told me a couple of hours ago. 2000: We stumble upon an open-air curry centre and order capati for dinner along with carrot-and-apple juice.  I ask the Indian guy what his prediction. “God knows,” he replies. I guess he has a point. He looks busy, as he furiously caters to his waiting customers, most of them Indian. The capati is excellent. Dry and great texture. Nearby, we spot a BN road-side operations stall. It appears empty. I look more closely. No, there is someone inside. He is watching television! 1900: Time for some dinner, so we head out to the streets. Walk up to a Pas election operations stall and run into a Pas supporter by the name of Kassim. I ask him about the ceramah schedule. He eyes us curiously and I ask him who he thinks will win. “Oh, Pas, majority dua ribu,” he replies, without hesitation. What’s the difference this time compared to the 2008 general election? “The last time we had a candidate from out of town (Mat Sabu); this time we have a local guy.” And what do you think are the main issues? “Corruption, wastage of public funds, poverty.” How was the money wasted? “The Monsoon Cup, the pasar warisan, which is more like a white elephant, the Crystal Mosque. That Crystal Mosque cost hundreds of millions,” says the Pas supporter, clad in Muslim attire. “We have enough mosques – what we need is aid for the poor. Look I can show you right here (in the middle of town), if you go further inside (off the main road), you can see the poor households.”

terengganu-by-election-008The South China Sea lashes the East Coast today as the rain pelts down. Will a political monsoon follow?

1817: I notice some hugely important comments by blog reader Pelanuk about poverty reduction in Terengganu:
…the fundamental fact of the matter is that Terengganu is a disaster zone (in terms of poverty reduction), and that’s the context. 1. At the per capita GDP level, Terengganu is way above the country average. Yet it has amongst the highest poverty rates in the country — and except for the five years under Pas, that “achievement” is all Umno’s, counting from the start of NEP in 1970. Now what does that tell you? 2. With the revision in the Poverty Level Income in 2004, at the peninsula-wide level, the poverty rate increased from 3.1 per cent to 3.6 per cent, i.e., by some 20 per cent, more or less in line with the increase in the PLI. But in the case of Terengganu, it increased by at least 50 per cent (if one takes the count from 2002 and assumes there was no decline between 2002 and 2004), and possibly doubled, if one assumes that it continued to decline at the same rate from 2002 to 2004…
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Floods in Kuching: Is the Barrage any use?

Anil Netto
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Update on the floods:
Kuching flood background here. Background to the role of the Kuching Barrage here. Note that many people dispute the effectiveness of the barrage, calling it a useless project. CM Taib Mahmud did not make any statement on the Kuching floods at all. Instead, he was more interested in celebrating his golden wedding anniversary. How not to conclude that the CM is out of touch and beyond his use-by date? See his birthday party details here. Businesses were badly affected by floods. See details here. As for George Chan, he is of the view that Kuching folk need not worry anymore since the floods are over. But damage has been done. Here is another politician who appears to be out of touch.  See his view here.
Kuching and surrounding areas have been hit by floods, which has now receded. The Sarawak river overflowed its banks and water poured into the city. Floods also occurred in Sibu, Bintulu and the gold-mining town of Bau. My friend over there says, tongue-in-cheek, that it was caused by an “act of God”. More seriously, he thinks any combination of the following factors could be responsible for the flooding: heavy rainfall, high tide, historical factors such as poor planning of city buildings in the flood-prone plain. Global warming too? All “made worse by the useless barrage project which was supposed to control floods but which does not. Just a project for cronies”.
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Where are these huge logs coming from?

Anil Netto
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A lorry laden with logs heading east near the exit to Kota Bharu: Where are all these logs coming from – and where are they heading?

Greetings from a dingy hotel in Kota Bharu, en route to Kuala Terengganu!

Had some tongkat ali coffee(!) this afternoon and then drove for almost six hours non-stop from Penang to the East Coast, accompanied by a friend. We left Penang at about 3.00pm and arrived in the midst of a steady monsoon rain in Kota Bharu just after 9.00pm.

It was a fascinating, cool drive along the East-West Highway from Gerik; magnificent views of rolling valleys and forest-clad hills. Along the way, we noticed signboards cautioning us to look out for cows, deer and even elephants. After Belum, thicks clouds hugged the hills and blanketed the highway, the dense fog forcing motorists to switch on their headlights in the early evening, and even then visibility was poor.

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Standoff: Soldiers vs Peace activist

Anil Netto
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This is from a Korean TV show The woman in the video is Huwaida Arraf, born in Detroit, Michigan, of the International Solidarity Movement. Married to Adam Shapiro, also of the ISM, whom she met while both were working at the Jerusalem centre of Seeds of Peace, an organisation seeking to foster dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian youth. Huwaida is Christian, daughter of an Israeli Arab father and a Palestinian mother.
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Terengganu poverty reduction: Did Pas do better?

Anil Netto
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Okay, folks, I will be off to Kuala Terengganu tomorrow with a friend to check out the by-election scene.  All the hotels are likely to be full, so I will take a tent along and just rough it out. It will be a homecoming of sorts, as I lived in Kuala Terengganu for two years, going to Standard One and Two at the Sultan Sulaiman Primary School. I must check out  our old house there to see if it is still standing…. In the meantime, this was was taken from a posting by Pelanuk on the Berita Malaysia email list. Did the Pas administration in Terengganu, without the benefit of oil royalties, actually do better than Umno in reducing poverty in the state?
> Staronline today reports Terengganu MB Ahmad Said as saying that “claims > that the Terengganu Government is rich but its people are poor are all > lies”, that “poverty rate had been reduced from 89.9% since independence to > only 13%”. The curious thing is that by the BN government’s own figures, the poverty rate in Terengganu: 1995 — 23.4% 1999 — 14.9% 2002 — 10.7% In other words, in the *four* years under the BN, from 1995-1999, the poverty rate fell by 36%, or an average of about 9% per year, while in the *three years* under PAS, it fell by 28%, or an average of just over 9% per year.
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Gaza “a big concentration camp”, says Vatican cardinal

Anil Netto
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Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican’s Council for Justice and Peace, has issued the Vatican’s toughest criticism of Israel, calling Gaza a “big concentration camp”. “Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay. Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp,” Martino, whose informal title is Vatican “justice minister”, was quoted as saying in a Reuters report. “For decades, human dignity has been trampled in the Gaza Strip; hatred and homicidal fundamentalism find fodder in social and economic injustice,” he said in another interview. Meanwhile, the Latin (Catholic) Patriarch of Jerusalem Archbishop Fouad Twal, quoting from the 18th Conference of the Council of Oriental Catholic Patriarchs, criticised the siege of Gaza in his Christmas Day message:
Together with all the Catholic Patriarchs of the Middle East “we turn to our faithful and to all the citizens of the Holy Land, living in deteriorating conditions, especially the unjust siege that has struck Gaza, and the hundreds of thousands of innocent residents there.
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