DAY 12 SG LIMAU Quotable quotes, planned events and unplanned incidents as they take place in the run-up to the by-election on Nov 4.
11.56pm: Yan, Kedah
PAS submits a memorandum to the Election Commission (EC) chairperson on possible abuse, in reference to the use of public premises and civil servants by BN in the Sg Limau by-election campaign.
The memorandum is received by Yan district officer cum returning officer for Sg Limau Abdul Rashid Othman at Yan District Office, 4 minutes before the campaign period ends.
10.00pm: Pekan Sg Limau Dalam, Dulang Kecil, and Yan Kechil
As Sg Limau winds down for the big day tomorrow, most of the party operation centers were packed with football fans watching the Malaysian Final Cup involving Kelantan and Pahang.
Big screen projectors which was earlier used for political purposes are now being used to show the game.
BN and PAS supporters on motorbicycles carrying their party flags can be seen whizzing around town.
A road block not far from the BN command center in Sg Kering slows traffic down.
In Dulang Kechil, a PAS ceramah is attended by a large crowd, as there is also a pasar malam going on.
Both BN and PAS candidates will vote early tomorrow - PAS' Mohd Azam Samat at 8.00am at SMK Bukit Besar and the BN candidate at SMK Dulang, at 9pm.
9.20pm: SJK(C) Yuk Min, Sungai Limau Dalam
The last night of Sungai Limau by-election campaign sees a Gerakan hosting a dinner for 400 people.
Party leaders who are present are president Mah Siew Keong, deputy president Cheah Soon Hai and national youth chief Tan Keng Liang.
Tired-looking Kedah mentri besar Mukhriz Mahathir who arrives later, urging the all-Chinese crow to give chance to BN and goading them to shout Pakatan Rakyat's unofficial slogan "Ini kalilah" used during the May general election.
"You have been voting for Pas for the last five terms, why not try a change this time?"
The event includes a lucky draw and other political speeches by other BN leaders such as minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom, who is also the Jerai MP.
5pm Kg Selengkoh:
PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail meets a group of women who are the party's supporters in a BN hardcore area.
In the May 5 elections, PAS lost to BN in the area by about 180 votes, but Wan Azizah is told that PKR has managed to get about 30 members into their fold in the last few weeks.
She tells the group that she had met their former assemblyperson Azizan Abdul Razak when she was studying for medicine in London, while he was reading for a Master's programme in the late 70s.
She also relates her experience this morning at the Chinese dominated area in Pekan Sg Dalam.
"When some Chinese people saw me, they called out 'it's Anwar's wife', and they came to shake my hands. They also were saying that I look very Chinese," she says.
"They were telling me how they have supported MCA before but got nothing. They feel better after supporting PAS (in 2008 and May 5 elections)".
Azizah also questions the rationality of BN giving mango plants to Sg Limau voters during the 12-day campaign period.
"Are they going to help them grow the plants? What if the plants fall sick and die, will they be replaced? Will they be taught how to nurse a plant back to health? A follow-up is more important than just giving them things," she says.
She returns to Kuala Lumpur today, after two days of campaigning.
4.00pm: Kg Selengkoh
Aunty Lynas, or real name Toh Ah Mei, is spotted campaigning for PAS in Sg Limau.
Toh, 72, an activist in anti-radioactive campaigns, and who had staged hunger strikes in support, says she has been in Sg Limau for three days.
"I come to show my support. I want BN to lose faster as they bring too much problems to people, what with their bribes and corruption. This is what they are doing in Sg Limau as well," she tells Malaysiakini.
She also attends a tea-party with women members from PAS and PKR, with PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail also present.
3.30pm: Sg Limau Dalam
PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is making her rounds in Sg Limau Dalam and Kg Selengkoh today.
At noon, she visits the market at Sg Limau Dalam, where she shakes hands with the public, who received her well.
She even drops into the MCA centre in Pekan Sg Limau Dalam.
It is learnt that Wan Azizah is in the area as she has been told that there would be a "swing" in the Chinese community in Sg Limau.
According to a PKR woman worker from Permatang Pauh accompanying Wan Azizah, the party was assigned to some "tough areas" where PAS is not allowed to enter.
"If PAS enter, they get chased out. When we enter, it's okay," she says at PKR main operations centre in Kg Sedaka.
"We tell them about the Pakatan government in Penang and how the people there are taken care of.
"We tell them, vote for PAS if you want to see things turn out as well as it did in Penang," she reveals.
2.50pm: Bukit Besar's Lembaga Kemajuan Muda (Mada)
Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad visits the Karnival Rakyat Luar Bandar 1Malaysia here.
In his speech, he jokes about his son. "The MB is my son. His name is Mukhriz, and he is bald because I did not give him any hair. I kept my hair.
"But he is also botak because he thinks a lot," he says to laughter from the crowd.
12.15pm: Padang Lumat, PAS main operations centre:
Former Jerai MP Mohd Firdaus Jaafar (right) denies that he had sent out SMSes asking people to collect RM120 when they go out to vote, saying it is a hoax.
"My phone has been hacked. I never sent out those messages," he said after PAS' daily press conferences here.
The SMS from an unknown sender reads: "To all Sg Limau voters, before voting please go to your respective PAS UPU to collect reimbursement as much as RM120 each person. Thank you. From Mohd Firdaus Jaafar".
Says PAS vice-president and Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar, "Where is PAS going to find the money?".
"This is what we call reverse psychology. What we have (the money) is just as much as armpit hair," he added, laughing.
"It seems technology is being used these days not just to spread information, but dis-information as well," he quipped.
12pm: Padang Lumat, PAS main operations centre
A 53-year old man from Sg Dedap claims that he was offered RM100 cash after he "handed in" an Umno membership form to Jerai MP Jamil Khir Baharom at a ceremony in Kg Kabu 10 late last night.
"I did not know what I was signing, I just thought they wanted to give me money. I took the money but I will still vote for PAS," says Ismail Said, a father of six from Sg Dedap.
Ismail, who works in the sea business says several of his friends were also at the event.
He said a BN worker gave them cash after they handed the so-called membership forms to Jamil.
At the function, Jamil is believed to have received 351 forms from five divisions from Sg Limau but the numbers are not yet confirmed.
Ismail is accompanied by PAS veep and Poko Sena MP Mahfuz Omar (above), Anak Bukit assemblyperson Amiruddin Hamzah, and PAS election director Hatta Ramli.
12pm: Sungai Limau Dalam BN command centre
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad arrives and greets Umno members without speaking to the press.
Wearing a BN cap, the father of the Kedah mentri besar goes straight to a room and meets with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
It is learnt that the two will hold a press conference later.
10am: Sungai Limau Dalam
The usually quiet Sungai Limau Dalam town sees massive traffic congestion up to an 8km-long jam during the last day of the by-election campaign.
More than 20 traffic policemen are seen deployed in the town to control the heavy traffic influx, but it seems like nothing can be done as the road is packed with crowds heading to weekly farmers market.
Some of the locals face difficulties parking their cars and motorbikes as they want to attend an agricultural function launched by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin nearby.
"This is like Kuala Lumpur, it's crazy!" says a fruit seller calling himself Ayie when met by the roadside.
One of the traffic police tells Malaysiakini that the traffic has been at a crawl since 8am.
[More to follow]
