The Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional candidates for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election have pledged to be gentlemen during the campaign, with no mud-slinging or character assassinations.
Mud-slinging or character assassination is negative campaigning which rooted in the attackers’ desire to damage the political opponent psychologically or destroy his chances to succeed politically.
There exists a school of thought that the practice of making unscrupulous, malicious attacks, reputation-damaging activity against the opponent in the by-election political campaign, is the only way to achieve the political victory.
Ironically, mud-slinging or character assassinations that go on in politics are really ugly. It reflects the failure and capability to address those major issues facing by the voters. By and large, the strategy of trying to win an advantage by referring to negative aspects of the opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing one's own positive attributes or preferred policies claimed to be less susceptible to mobilizing influence of votes.
In the by-election, the practice of verbal negative campaigning seems mild but this is still uncertain. Anything for a vote through dirty tricks, cheap shots seem too occurred and elimination remains questionable.
Pas President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang especially made the statement that candidate PAS had never sing at karaoke with girls and not corrupted during the announcement of PAS candidacy at a rally in Kuala Terengganu stadium, alleged start the first political attack openly against the opponent.
Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the by-election, explain that a picture of him singing with his niece at a family gathering had been posted on a blog by certain quarters. May be they want to portray him as a flamboyant fellow who frequents lounges and karaoke outlets.
The question remains: Should those who engage in any mud-slinging and character assassination be held responsibility?
The Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary seat by-election is going to be an absolute fought betweenBarisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. There exists a school of thought that the 8,762 Chinese voters may very well decide the outcome of the upcoming Kuala Terengganu by-election if the Malay votes are divided equally between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.
Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary seat, with Malays making up 88.3% of the strong electorate, 0.60% of Indian voters and 10.91% Chinese voters in the electorate who have traditionally backed MCA. Due to this fact, Barisan Nasional is confident of retaining the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat.
The Chinese voters are concentrated in Bandar, the only seat held by MCA. It is interesting to note the vitality of this state seat.
Terengganu is one of the three east coast states on Peninsular Malaysia. It has a land area of 12,995 square kilometers and 225 kilometers of picturesque coastline.
The capital, Kuala Terengganu stands on the bank of the Terengganu River is located about 500 kilometers northeast of Kuala Lumpur on a promontory surrounded on three sides by the South China Sea.
Kuala Terengganu is famous for its fishing industry and is located at the strategic natural sea port at the South China Sea. Both Chinese and Arabs traders came to Kuala Terengganu to sell their product since ancient times.
The name means the "river mouth of Terengganu", referring to the broad expanse of the Terengganu River estuary which empties into the ocean. Kuala Terengganu is also the name of the parliamentary constituency in which the city is situated.
The four state seats under the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency are Wakaf Mempelam, Ladang, Batu Buruk and Bandar, the only seat held by MCA. There was only one street, called Kampung Cina or Chinatown, when Kuala Terengganu was founded. A family of Chinese traders who were trading between China and the Malay Peninsula established it as early as 15th century. Two rows of shop houses of 236 units which dated back to the late 1800s flank the road. One row of shop houses is built along the riverside on the right side of the mouth of Terengganu River.
Many of these shop houses have extensions to as far back facing the river. From the 16th century onwards, the Chinese population increased gradually, some established permanent settlement.
By mid-1800s, the Chinese population increased tremendously as new Chinese immigrants arrived. Kuala Terengganu, which is strategically located on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, was a natural stopping point for those who plied the trade route from China to South East Asia in the early days.
Kampung Cina became the most densely populated area for the Chinese community in Kuala Terengganu. The Chinese settlers in Kuala Terengganu before 1900 were not homogeneous for they comprise of Hokkiens, Hainanese and Cantonese. Hokkien dialect however is commonly used by the Chinese community besides Mandarin.
PAS named five-term Wakaf Mempelam assemblyman Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut as the party’s candidate to challenge Barisan Nasional heavyweight Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh in the crucial Jan 17 Kuala Terengganu by-election.
Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh
Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut, 52, who is also the state PAS treasurer, is a fisheries and marine science graduate from Universiti Putra Malaysia. He has nine children. He served as state entrepreneur development, consumer, youth and small medium enterprises committee chairman when PAS ruled Terengganu between 1999 and 2004.
Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut
His name was not even on political observers’ speculating list. Several big guns were mention, including Batu Burok state assemblyman Dr Syed Azman Ahmad Nawawi, who is also the former Kuala Terengganu MP, state PAS commissioner Datuk Mustafa Ali and his deputy Datuk Wan Muttalib Wan Embong.
The political observers were caught at the last minute. In what some people are describing as the weather in Terengganu is the classic example for its unpredictable likewise the politics. Weather forecasters have always been criticized for their frequent false predictions of weather in Terengganu likewise the political analysts for their false predictions of Terengganu politics.
Undeniably, the chosen PAS candidate is not quite a greenhorn but the big guns - popular Batu Burok state assemblyperson Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi or either one of the two PAS veterans, Mustafa Ali and Wan Abdul Mutalib Embong should have a better chance of winning the battle.
In the March 8 general elections, Razali narrowly defeated PAS vice-president Mohamad Sabu by 628 votes. By a simple counting, PAS should have won the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary with simple majority of 539 votes instead of BN. Thus the candidate factor and 1,035 postal votes come into play in winning the seat.
Ironically, history did indeed repeat itself. In moments when variegated political forces are pitted against each other, certain individuals come to play pivotal roles.
The question for me, therefore, has to be how a decidedly popular candidate occurred under the auspices of decidedly unpopular circumstances. That unpopularity cannot be doubted.
The four state seats under the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency are as follow:
We welcome 2009, but are the early by-election in Kuala Terengganu occurring at the beginning of the year welcome by both Umno and Pas remains a question.
The weather in Kuala Terengganu is the classic example for its unpredictable likewise the politics.
Weather forecasters have always been criticized for their frequent false predictions of weather in Kuala Terengganu likewise the political analysts for their false predictions of unpredictable politics.
The Kuala Terengganu by election which is 16 days away is not just about the BN retaining its parliamentary seat. Politically, it's another test of strength between UMNO and PAS.
Ironically, the by-election result will have no bearing on the state government, but obviously it has long run far-reaching implications for local, regional, and national politics. Obviously, the by-election is going to be an absolute fought between UMNO and PAS. The latest figure is 80,325 voters recorded in March 2008, BN and PAS had an equal chance with the 88.3% majority Malay voters in P 036 Kuala Terengganu; the party that could win over the 8,762 Chinese votes would break the tie and secure the win.
Kuala Terengganu, with Malays making up 88.3 % of the strong electorate, 0.60% of Indian voters and 10.91 % Chinese voters in the electorate who have traditionally backed MCA.
In this by-election, the Chinese in Kuala Terengganu seem more likely to be influenced by national issues, such as vernacular education, economic issues and their perception of BN’s reform efforts.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak handed over RM 408.6 million in oil royalty to Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said and the state government tabled a balanced budget of RM1.799 billion for the year 2009 to ensure the government can implement high-impact projects for the people, the moves seen by many observers as a bonus to BN.
PAS, a nearly exclusively Malay-Muslim party, is not very optimistic of the Malay votes as Anwar and his colleagues in the Pakatan Rakyat cannot be trusted to safeguard their position. The PR government seems to create the image of uphold Malay rights and would sell out the Malays.
Kuala Terengganu, as a traditional battleground of Umno and PAS, has always been unpredictable but favorable to BN. BN prevailed in 1986 with majority of 3,324 votes but Semangat 46 and its allies had the upper hand in 1990 with majority 1,880 votes.
The seat then reverted to BN in 1995 with majority 4,852 votes before going to PAS in 1999 with majority of 14,488 votes and then back to the BN in 2004 with majority 1,933 votes. In 2008, BN barely clung on to the seat with majority 628 votes, with argument that the outcome was influenced by independent candidate Maimun Yusof, who pulled 685 votes.
