GUA MUSANG: The cordial form of campaigning in the Galas state by-election only lasted for three days. Yesterday, PAS singled out Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for criticism.
Before the official campaigning period started after nomination closed by noon on Tuesday, both sides were reportedly keen on a cordial and gentlemanly form of campaigning.
Both Razaleigh, the Barisan Nasional by-election director and Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the de facto PAS election leader here, spoke of a commitment towards non-personal attacks but it has disintergrated within 72 hours.
Yesterday, state PAS election committee adviser Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah singled out Razaleigh, who is affectionately known as Ku Li, as the main cause why land deeds and titles were slow in being awarded in Galas.
Wan Abdul Rahim, who is widely considered to be one of the key PAS' brains in Kelantan, said Razaleigh was bestowed the trust to handle the issue when he headed Semangat 46 but instead he decided to hide the files.
Semangat 46 is now defunct after it dissolved in the late 1990s and its members rejoined Umno but in 1990, it was part of an opposition front called Gagasan Rakyat with PAS and DAP.
Wan Abdul Rahim's criticism came as a surprise because earlier Razaleigh and Nik Aziz had both said that would not be any personal attacks.
Secret mission
Wan Abdul Rahim also alleged that BN was trailing far behind in Galas so it would likely resort to using outsiders to impersonate as voters here.
He claimed that a secret mission with the National Registration Department was in full swing to offer RM1,000 and a television set to each voter here who is willing to surrender his or her identity cards.
The cards would then be modified to be used by outsiders who comprise Barisan election workers for voting in Galas, he claimed at a press conference.
This is the only way for BN to win as it is now desperate since the coalition is trailing far behind, particularly among Chinese voters, Wan Abdul Rahim said.
A bemused Ku Li only said that Wan Abdul Rahim has a right to say what he wants but stressed that it is virtually impossible to commit voting fraud here due to the presence of the Election
Commission and each of the party's own polling agents.
"Perhaps, he (Wan Abdul Rahim) was referring to Mona Fandey's ability to vote (a woman bomoh sentenced to death for murder years ago). I really do not know what PAS means."
He declined to be dragged into a war of words with PAS.
Political equation
Earlier, Razaleigh said that the campaign should be friendly as it was an insignificant by-election to Kelantan.
Whoever wins, either BN or PAS, would not change the political equation in Kelantan, he said.
PAS has 37 seats with PKR one and Umno six.
Meanwhile, PAS has stepped up its evening rallies by organising smaller ones in various polling areas here.
There are now even rumours that Kelantan PAS would invite the Sultan of Kelantan, Sultan Muhammad V Tuanku Muhammad Faris Petra Sultan Ismail Petra to officiate at some programmes.
A palace official has denied this, saying the royal institution is above politics.
Talk has also resurfaced of a secret negotiation between Razaleigh and Kelantan PAS over the proceedings of the by-election, which centred on the contentious issue of oil royalty, which the state
government is demanding from Petronas.
This has now transformed the by-election into a feverish pitch.
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