PAS and Keadilan will back their former opposition front partner, DAP, in the Ketari state seat by-election in response to an official letter from the DAP Pahang election operation director Leong Ngah Ngah requesting for their assistance.

Keadilan deputy Youth chief Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the party will be present on nomination day on March 23 and assist in the eight-day campaign period.

"I will personally be there as the opposition parties have a common enemy and that is the Barisan Nasional," Saifuddin told malaysiakini at the Parliament lobby today.

PAS president Fadzil Noor also confirmed that the party machinery will be put to action in Ketari to propel DAP's campaign.

In his letter dated March 17, Leong said DAP welcomed Barisan Alternatif's decision to give way to the DAP candidate in Ketari.

Leong, who is state assembly representative for Triang (Pahang), said the decision was in line with the interests of opposition supporters that the battle in any election should be "one to one" between the BN and the opposition.

DAP's Choong Siew Onn will face BN candidate Yum Ah Ha from Gerakan in the upcoming by-election.

Leong added: "We also welcome BA's decision to support our candidate and consolidate the opposition to reject BN for the sake of democracy, justice, freedom and good governance."

Workers limited

This co-operation with the BA, however, may not find favour with the police as, according to a report in The Star today, they have been instructed to "come down hard" on parties that employ outsiders as election workers.

Though Pahang police chief deputy commissioner Mohd Noor Hammat, who issued the order, was referring to hired thugs, he also implied that the opposition was affected since, he said, DAP had not "informed" the police that the other opposition parties would be helping it in the by-election.

Special stickers will be given to BN and DAP supporters to limit the number of cars inside the compound of the district office and the nomination centre.

In addition, only the flags of the two contesting parties will be allowed for the nomination day processions.

This means BA would not be able to fly their component flags since they are not a registered coalition whereas BN component parties would be able to display theirs.

Criticising this decision, Saifuddin said the police have usurped the duties of the Election Commission.

"The duties of these two departments should not interfere with one another. The police are supposed to be in charge of security matters, not election ones," he said.

"Political parties should be free to act during election time according to provisions of the law and that means assisting other political parties based on their principles and idealism," he added.

Calling the police chief "arrogant", Saifuddin said political parties had never had to inform the police that they would be seeking help from other parties or employing election workers from outside.

"The police have no respect for democracy. Election time is when democracy is celebrated. It appears to me that this country is moving towards a police state," he said.

Fadzil also criticised the police statement in response, saying that it was a "violation of democratic principles".

"We urged the police to withdraw their statement as it should not have been uttered at all," he said.