A man peers over his shoulder outside Pasar Payang (All pics by Lainie Yeoh, unless otherwise noted) SATURDAY, 17 Jan 2009, is D-Day for Kuala Terengganu, but things are no clearer as to which way the votes will go. Trying to understand how voters here decide has been an intriguing exercise. Despite enthusiastic responses to […]
Kuala Terengganu
Fence-sitters hold the key
By Danny LimYoung Malay villagers among the elderly at a PAS ceramah in Kampung Panji, Wakaf Mempelam on 12 Jan 2009 WITH the Chinese Malaysian voters — considered the decisive votes in the Kuala Terengganu by-election — appearing to lean towards PAS, attention is now shifting to the Malay Malaysian votes. The Chinese Malaysian community’s enthusiastic support […]
Balas budi promises in KT
By Danny Lim and Deborah LohBALAS budi. That is how Barisan Nasional (BN) has been aggressively wooing Chinese Malaysian voters in the final leg of campaigning for the Kuala Terengganu by-election. Nearly every night, dinners are held together with karaoke sessions, lucky draws and cultural shows. In between the merry-making, BN leaders drop in to exhort the crowd to vote […]
Reckoning with the electorate
By Deborah LohBN streamer in front of a temple in Kampung Cina IN the March 2008 general election, the 11% Chinese Malaysian voters in Kuala Terengganu were considered the swing voters in this largely Malay Malaysian constituency. Analysts have predicted that the Chinese Malaysian vote will also decide the results of the upcoming 17 Jan by-election as […]
On the ceramah trail
By Danny LimCorrected on 15 Jan 2009 at 1am PAS ceramah in Kampung Panji, in the Wakaf Mempelam state constituency, surrounded by shrubbery IN the first half of a cool campaign that has matched the breeze blowing in from the South China Sea, the barrage of issues lobbed between the two major competing parties has mostly avoided […]
No govt discrimination against any community
KUALA TERENGGANU, 14 Jan 2009: The government does not discriminate against any community in Terengganu because all communities are accorded equal treatment, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today. The deputy prime minister said the giving of compassionate aid was an example of clear proof that the government never neglected any community, and no community was […]
Assessing Chinese Malaysian support
KUALA TERENGGANU, 14 Jan 2009: The street in Kampung Cina here appears relatively calm despite daytime activities and the intensified campaign for the 17 Jan Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election. “Actually, it is boiling here,” a coffeeshop owner, who wanted to be known only as Chua, said, referring to the close battle for the 8,229 Chinese […]
The art of campaigning
By Cindy Tham and Lainie Yeoh
THERE appears to be an art to displaying election campaign flags and flyers. The sights that greeted us as we drove around Kuala Terengganu from 10 to 12 Jan 2009 seemed to indicate that. The size of the flags, the effect of putting them against contrasting colours or a significant landmark, using tall flagpoles versus […]
Wahid’s likeability factor
By Deborah LohPAS candidate Abdul Wahid Endut on his walkabout to meet voters in Kg Cina THOUGH PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang claims divine intervention in his selection of the party’s candidate for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election, there could be a more earthly, tactical reason. There is a story about the candidate, Abdul Wahid […]
Hudud not a Pakatan Rakyat policy
By Deborah LohKUALA TERENGGANU, 11 JAN 2009: Pakatan Rakyat leaders moved to quell the subject of hudud law implementation which they claimed had been manufactured by Barisan Nasional (BN) as a by-election campaign issue. DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang held a joint press conference to admit that though they […]
