BN RETAINS BATANG AI, LOSES BUKIT GANTANG AND BUKIT SELAMBAU—reactions in Bukit Gantang

PAS RETAINS BUKIT GANTANG

Ousted menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin won the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat, beating BN candidate Ismail Saffian and independent Kamarul Rami-zu Idris.

The 52-year-old polled 21,860 votes against Ismail's 19,071 while Kamarul only managed to secure 62 votes and lost his deposit.


Nizar's 2,789-vote majority over Ismail is almost double the majority obtained by former Pas member of parliament, the late Roslan Shah-rom, in last year's general election.Roslan defeated BN candidate and Umno treasurer Datuk Seri Azim Zabidi with a 1,566-vote majority.

Nizar's victory, however, was not a surprise as political observers had expected him to garner sympathy votes due to the political impasse in the state.

Nizar was told to step down as menteri besar on Feb 5 by the Perak ruler after Pakatan Rakyat lost the majority in the state assembly when three state assemblymen quit their parties and declared themselves as independents "friendly" to BN.

Asked as to his immediate concerns, Mohammad Nizar said he wants to unify the people of Bukit Gantang so that they can work with PR.

"We are going to request for a quick and urgent dissolution of the Perak government so that the constitutional crisis in Perak can be resolved and that will be my immediate action to stabilise the political scenario in Perak,” he added.

Ismail said he accepted the results of the polls.

"Now, it is time for Nizar to act on the promises he has made to the people here,” he said.


The Election Commission said 75.1 per cent or 41,626 of the 55,562 voters cast their ballots despite yesterday being a working day and a one-hour downpour in the afternoon. The total number of registered voters is 55,462, of which 63.5% are Malays, 27.1% Chinese, and 9.1% Indians.


The semi-rural parliamentary constituency is made up of the three state constituencies of Changkat Jering, Trong and Kuala Sepetang

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3 by-elections or Bukit Gantang is no referendum to BN or Najib` s leadership

Nomination day is just over, the countdown to April 7, the big polling day for the 3 by-elections now takes the centerstage.

Often than not as deemed by the opposition, the question –Is the 3 by-elections, especiallyBukit Gantang , a referendum to BN and new UMNO president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is inevitably asked by all?

When asked, Najib said, "they were not a good indication."

"The only referendum are general elections."

‘Please judge me by my actions’

"You are not being fair if you pre-judge somebody. Please judge me by my actions. My actions will come in due course. I have not even taken office yet. I only ask that I be treated fairly by the press."


Najib added that he has confidence in the new line-up of party leaders and that they will be able to support him and work as a team.

"We make the best of the people the party has chosen. "

"We have promised to make reforms, we have promised to make changes and we will deliver that," he concluded.

Najib told the delegates earlier that he would try and bring Dr Mahathir and Abdullah together and consult both of them on party and national issues.

Meanwhile MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said, this by-election would be an opportunity for the people to decide whether they wanted an elected representative who could offer plans and strategy to overcome the effects of the current economic downturn or a leader who could only prolong the political crisis in Perak through excessive politicking.

Issues are aplenty as alleged by the opposition, amongst which is Bukit Gantang squatters`land issue.




Ong said most of the squatters were fishermen who had stayed on the land which was laid with a railway track connecting Port Weld (now Kuala Sepetang) with Taiping.










“It’s an old problem. There’s a lot of such land used for the railway line but now still occupied by people, mostly families of fishermen. After such a long time, they want to know the status of the land.

“I have instructed KTMB and the Railway Asset Management Corporation to carry out a census to find out the number of households occupying KTMB land there and we will try to solve the problem,” he said after a closed-door dialogue with the Chinese community in Bukit Gantang.

Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, meanwhile, said“I believe the voters in Perak are mature enough to see what has been achieved by the previous DAP-PKR-Pas state government, and that they would be able to make the right choice on polling day,” he said when met here.

BN, on the other hand, is riding on the new leadership of Umno. Vice president Hishammuddin said that “

the process of returning support to BN has already begun with the new Umno line-up.”


At this time when the country is sailing through global economic turmoil, Najib, Umno and BN, together with the younger voters who make up the "altered political landscape" cannot afford to be sidetracked by local political turbulence or inter-party politicking.

The unnecessary `political bushfires` as like being lit by the government's opponents has to be put off .

No doubt BN was mandated by the people on March 8, 2008 to lead the country but it calls for a joint- force by all parties and rakyat involved.

Voters in 3 by-elections be wise enough to decide on your priority.

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SEE WHAT BUKIT GANTANG BY- ELECTION COMING TO..???

THREE MORE DAYS to Nomination Day and eleven days to election day, you can already feel the heat.

You can see arrays of party flags flying everywhere, loudspeakers of ceramah out–beating each other at close range and faithful party workers reaching out to the locals from door to door and face to face wooing voters. No big deal that is common sight in any town that is going to have any election soon.

But what attract/enrage me most is seeing how man can use such an intelligence to create these banners below in the name of upholding ideologies.

CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE FOR THE WRONG CAUSE









Another hot happening is that local people become victims of circumstances when followers become rowdy when told to disperse because they have no permit to hold those night ceramahs.

Because of that, we need the police and FRU for the sake of the safety for the locals. And this has become a common sight -- police pondok-to serve us. So much resources wasted to contain demos cracy people.




And this is what PAKATAN leaders got to say about their Hajat in Bukit Gantang by-election

Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham(Perak DAP chief): 'the Bukit Gantang by-election is not just another by-election but a referendum for the people of Perak to decide whether the Barisan Nasional (BN)’s way to take over the state government is acceptable.'

Obvious - 'DAP is using PAS to secure its power in Perak by supporting Nizar'—CAKAP TAK SAMA HAJAT

Abdul Hadi: ..'dalam Islam, rasuah adalah dosa besar yang dilaknati Allah..'- IDEOLOGY MISSION IN HEART NOT THE INTEREST OF THE RAKYAT THE PRIORITY.

Anwar: 'Nizar menjadi lambang pembela nasib rakyat pelbagai kaum di Perak'..???? OR IS THIS THE ULTIMATE END??

But guys, Bukit Gantang has 13 districts which need development for its basic needs and amenities badly and not more political instability, huh?

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