A day after 300 PPP members had defected to PKR with purportedly thousands more to follow, more than 200 opposition party members in Bukit Selambau have joined Barisan Nasional.

The group are from Kampung Kuala Sungkup. Village head Mohd Nasir Abdul Omar said they had decided to join BN because they were disappointed with the PAS-led government in Kedah for failing to fulfill their promises of wanting to help improve the welfare of the people.

bm version bukit selambau state seat 090209 "We have waited long, but there has been no changes...for example, there is no clean water supply to our kampung and we have been depending on water from the wells for the past 50 years,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

"We will fully support BN and hope our plight would be looked into because we are confident the BN can help us," he told reports at a gathering chaired by Kedah BN chief Mahdzir Khalid.

Mahdzir who welcomed the decision by the group to join BN said Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's claim that 6,000 PPP members would join PKR is a political gimmick which had no

basis.

"Yesterday, I had a meeting with all component parties and the PPP chairman had rubbished the claim," he said.

Meanwhile, in Taiping PPP deputy minister T Murugiah said only six PPP members led by its vice-president V Nagarajan had joined PKR as opposed to claims that 6,000 would be joining PKR.

"Claims that 62 PPP branches in Kedah would join PKR is totally unfounded and misleading. PPP members are strongly behind president M Kayveas and will continue to support BN and the new Prime Minister," he said.

He added that support for BN from the Chinese and Indian communities had grown from strength to strength due to the government's efforts and initiatives in taking care of the people's welfare.

'We want a rep who can serve us'

In Bukit Gantang, checks by Bernama , especially with the fence sitters, showed they preferred an elected representative who was able to give his full attention to their needs and solve their problems.

bukit gantang parliamentary seat 090209 They were not particularly bothered which party the candidate came from as their general feeling was that "all of them are the same, good only at talking and appearing when election time comes".

Petty trader, Wahab Ibrahim, 63, from Kampung Batu 7, Jalan Trong, said:"I am quite disappointed because elected representatives are only good at "taking notes" when visiting needy folk but thereafter there is never any follow-up action taken."

Farmer, Razali Napiah, 42, said that although he was happy that their call for a local to be fielded had been answered by BN after a long wait since 1955, it would not be the determining factor for a BN win as a lot of the people's problems had yet to be settled.

He was of the opinion that all the election goings on taking place in the constituency now were "just a big show" and said the people of Bukit Gantang were fervently hoping that this time around they would get someone who would really work for the people.

S. Krishnan, 44, a motor cycle workshop owner, said he was not partial to any political party and was hoping for someone "who could get on with the job".

Mohd Saad Nordin, 61, a restaurant operator from Batu 8, Changkat Jering, said he hoped the candidate picked would be able to carry out his duties honestly and diligently with constituents being the main priority.

"It has been the same old empty promises election after election, the BN and the opposition being no different," he said.