The mysterious 1Malaysia ‘NGO’ has re-emerged from the shadows and has hit Tenang just in time for the by-election.

tenang by election 23011 1malaysia group goodies Armed with goody bags stuffed with consumer goods, their targets this time were the Chinese and Indian areas of Labis town and Labis Utara.

They arrived with two big trucks filled with standard red bags, containing a tin of Milo, two tins of condensed milk, tea, a water bottle, stationery and a large poster of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, all with the sticker of the ubiquitous 1Malaysia logo.

With 60 ‘recruits’ - all Tenang locals - the group went from house to house in the two areas to hand out the goody bags to residents.

tenang by election 230111 unknown 1malaysia person in charge 1 A ‘coordinator’ ( right ) who refused to be named, photographed or even spoken to,  was seen instructing the group to hand over the goodies to all houses, irrespective of the recipients’ political inclination.

When questioned, he simply told Malaysiakini to “ask his boss” Sia Teck Keong. Checks later reveal that Sia is a Selangor MCA Youth deputy organising secretary.

The coordinator also said that they were sponsored by some “businessmen”.

While it is not known if the ‘volunteers’ were paid, they were visibly eager to sign up for the walkabout, forming a long queue to register themselves and then swarming for the 1Malaysia T-shirts.

Vote swingers in Galas

Almost everyone approached were tight-lipped about the so-called NGO’s origins.

tenang by election 23011 1malaysia group lorries The 1Malaysia NGO first surfaced during the Galas by-election last November claiming to be non-partisan.

They followed the same modus operandi recruiting the locals and targetting the non-Malay areas.

They were reported to have paid the volunteers RM100 for a few hours’ work, for simply walking from house-to-house to give out the goodies.

Sia later denied that the volunteers had been paid.

When contacted, Sia said that he is unaware of the going-ons in Tenang although he was the coordinator of the Galas exercise.

During that by-election Pakatan Rakyat politicians had complained that the 1Malaysia group’s generosity had contributed to the swing in non-Malay support towards the BN.

Pakatan saw their Chinese support slip by two to 3.5 percent in the by-election that the BN eventually won by a majority of 1,190 votes.