DAY 9 KUALA BESUT Quotable quotes, planned events and unplanned incidents as they take place in the run-up to the by-election.

9.30pm: Over four hours after advance polling has closed, security forces personnel who had taken part in it told Malaysiakini that there are no problems with the indelible ink so far, nor have they heard of any issues from their colleagues.

However, all of them have declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

In the recent general election where the indelible ink made its debut, complaints that it was easily washed off emerged before polling even ended.

The Election Commission (EC) has since changed the ink's supplier and introduced a new procedure where the finger is dipped into the ink bottle instead of having the ink applied on the voter's finger with a brush.

The ink is meant to prevent people from voting multiple times under several identities and therefore needs to last at least until the polls end on July 24.

8.20pm: NGO Jemaah Al-Ehsan Kuala Besut pledges to back BN, having previously either supported PAS or not taking sides.

jemaah al ehsan kuala besut pc 200713 jemaah al-ehsan chairperson zakaria salleh Its chairperson Zakaria Salleh ( left ), claiming to represent some 200 members, says the group had previously backed PAS for its Islamic struggles but it now believes that the party is more interested in putting PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim in power.

He also claims that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang (who is seen as part of the ulama faction) had appointed Husam Musa, a professional, as the Kuala Besut by-election director because the ulama faction feared the professionals faction and wanted to appease them.

Meanwhile, he claims that Husam has changed his stance from being pro-PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat to being pro-Anwar.

"Therefore, I have urged my jemaah especially in Kuala Besut to reject the opposition especially PAS, which is paving the way for Anwar (to come into power)," he told a press conference in Seberang Barat today.

jemaah al ehsan kuala besut pc 200713 umno information chief ahmad maslan Also present at the press conference is Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan ( right ).

6.15pm: The turnout for early voting at the Multipurpose Hall of the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Gong Kedak was 79.36 per cent, says the Election Commission (EC).

EC director for Terengganu Fakhrul Razi Ab Wahab says when early voting closed at 5pm, only 911 of the 1,148 military personnel and spouses and police officers eligible to cast their ballots turned up.

The ballot boxes for the early voting from the two voting streams provided at the hall will be kept at the lockup of the Besut police headquarters until polling day next Wednesday.

4:10pm: DPM Muhyiddin Yassin dishes out RM35 million to repair a dam in Pengkalan Nangka, Kuala Besut to irrigate 900 hectares of paddy fields and calls for the people to support BN’s candidate.

“I know about the dam that needs repairs. The allocation RM35 million has been approved.

“It will serve to upgrade the dam improve its operation so that paddy can be planted twice a year,” he said at a gathering with local fishermen and farmers in Dataran Kuala Besut.

During his presentation he called on the roughly 1,000 present to give their support to the BN candidate Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abdul Rahman so that his promise can be carried out.

12:30pm: PAS central committee member Dzulkefli Ahmad says those who spread SMS about friction with Terengganu PAS commissioner Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut was “hilarious, ill-intentioned and malicious”.

NONE The messages apparently claim that Mohd Abdul Wahid is unhappy with the choice of PAS vice president Husam Musa as election director and left for Mecca as a result.

‘Wahid Endut and wife went to Mecca yesterday. They must be unhappy over the choice of Husam Musa’ read the SMS received by members of the press.

Dzulkefli said Mohd Abdul Wahid’s trip had been planned even before the by-election was announced.

“What a joke lah. If we want to go for umrah we plan a year ahead and then the by-election just came up.

“The cooperation between the Terengganu (election) machinery and the central one is excellent.

“Everything is going as planned, from the national point of view,” he tells the media during a press conference.

Dzulkefli adds he does not know the sender of the SMS.

11.30am: Wan Ahmad tells a press conference at the airbase that the EC would only announce the results of the Kuala Besut by-election after 10pm on polling day, even if the results are ready earlier.

"This is to give a chance for them (political leaders) to fulfill their solat tawarikh (special Ramadan prayers), he said.

He added that the expected turnout for the advance polling is at least 95 percent, while the turnout for the normal polling day on July 24 is over 75 percent.

"Although it is a weekday, we expect a high turnout because most people who are working nearby," he told reporters.

He added that two bottles of indelible ink has been prepared for each of the 36 normal polling streams and two advance polling streams, but declined to reveal its silver nitrate content or cost.

Instead, he stressed that the ink has been approved by the Ministry of Health and the Islamic Affairs Department.

11am: Election Commission (EC) deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar visits Gong Kedak Royal Malaysian Air Force base as today is the advance voting day for the by-election.

ec wan ahmad wan omar in kaula besut Upon arrival, Wan Ahmad flashes his left forefinger, inked with indelible ink, to prove that the indelible ink which will be used in this by-election is better than the product used during 13th general election.

“It's the sixth day, I washed it with all kinds of things, and it's still there,” he tells the press.

In Kuala Besut, there are 1,134 army personnel and 14 police personnel qualified to exercise their right to cast their votes today as advance voters.

The polling process is taking place at the multi-purpose hall at the air force base from 8am to 5pm today.

[More to follow]