Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is confident of winning the Hulu Selangor Malay community's support for tomorrow's by-election.

They make up 52.7 percent of the 64,500 registered voters in the constituency making them the prime target for the contending parties especially the 7,000-odd in the Felda settlements.

With barely 12 hours left in the campaign's last lap, Najib has personally taken on the task of persuading voters before they decide who they want as their as their representative in Parliament.

The premier arrived at the constituency yesterday, immediately after a short stint in the United States and Japan for bilateral talks. The PM has already distributed goodies worth more than RM5 million to Hulu Selangor inhabitants.

NONE To the Felda settlers of Sungai Buaya, Najib gave out RM50,000 each yesterday, which was part of the sum owed to the settlers when they sold their land to a private developer in 1994.

After joining the Barisan Nasional machinery and the locals of Kalumpang, Hulu Bernam for a breakfast feast this morning, Najib affirmed that BN had always had the "strong support of the Malays and it will continue to be the same."

Asked to predict the possible percentage victory they would be able to secure, Najib said: "It is not a worthwhile exercise to speak in terms of percentages. What is important now is to go all out and make sure BN wins".

In order to make certain of victory, a maximum voter turnout must be ensured for tomorrow said Najib, pleading to voters to "fulfill their duties and responsibilities" by casting their ballot.

‘Anyone can campaign'

On a related development, he brushed aside PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat's possible impact on the voters, saying:

"Everybody can come and campaign...this is a free country, the voters will decide".

NONE However, he rapped the Kelantan menteri besar for criticising the Sultan of Selangor's decree that political parties should not use mosques to campaign for the by-election, calling it as an act of serious defiance.

"The directive by the Sultan of Selangor is timely because mosques are avenues to reach God...not to be used for the purpose of competition with one another," he said.

"Islam abhors actions which could disunite Muslims, especially in the house of Allah".

During a ceramah last night, Nik Aziz said that it was permissible to use mosques as a platform to campaign.

Najib added that such a directive should apply to all mosques as it is meant as a place for prayers and nothing more.

"The mosque is a place for us to get close to Allah, to show and inculcate good values and not to bicker with one another," he said.

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