PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said Malay voters must not shun PKR candidate for the Bukit Selambau by-election S Manikumar because he is not a Muslim.

anti ppsmi english language for math and science ceramah 230209 600 hadi awang The Islamic leader expressed concern that the Malay electorate might turn their back on the candidate because of this.

In view of this, he called on the Malays to support the PKR candidate and not question the status of his religion because the objective of the PAS-DAP-PKR coalition was to retain the Bukit Selambau seat.

Besides Manikumar, S Ganesan of Barisan Nasional and 13 independent candidates are contesting in the by-election, necessitated by the resignation of PKR state assemblyperson V Arumugam in February.

"The voters, especially PAS members, should exercise their right to retain the Bukit Selambau seat (for PKR)," Hadi was quoted as saying by Bernama at a ceramah in Taman Ria Jaya last night.

He also said that PAS had forged a coalition with non-Islamic parties such as DAP and PKR because this was not contrary to Islam.

EC airlifts ballot boxes

Meanwhile, for the Batang Ai by-election, the Election Commission has transported 11 ballot boxes, four by air and the rest by river, to the remote areas of the state constituency inaccessible by road, ahead of tomorrow’s contest.

batang air state seat 240209 Sarawak EC director Takun Sunggah said today that rain over the last few days had left several roads submerged in floodwaters and cut off the land route to these remote areas.

The airlifted ballot boxes were destined for the most remote areas of Ulu Engkari, Ulu Lemanak, Nanga Aup and Nanga Kumpang, he told reporters.

Many of the remote longhouses in the 1,341 sq km constituency can only be reached by river and the boat rides can take three to eight hours, depending on the water level and current.

EC staff will also use the man-made lake created by the Batang Ai hydro-electric project to get to their remote destinations.

"Fifteen ballot boxes will be transported by road to the nearby polling streams, including Sebangki, Batang Ai and Lubok Antu, on polling day tomorrow," he said.

Takun said the counting of votes would begin at about 6pm tomorrow and the election result was expected to be announced by 8.30pm for the Iban-majority seat which has 8,006 voters, including 43 postal voters.

Twenty-five polling stations and 26 polling streams will be opened tomorrow for the by-election, which is a straight fight between Malcolm Mussen Lamoh of the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Jawah Gerang of PKR.

The by-election is being held following the death of state assemblypersonDublin Unting Ingkot, who was assistant minister of agriculture and assistant minister of sports, on Feb 24.