The PAS Tenang by-election campaign machinery was caught on the wrong foot with the nomination and polling dates announced by the Election Commission (EC), as they had expected the dates to be earlier during mid-January.

“We need to have another meeting, restructure our action plan,” said PAS Tenang election director Dzulkefly Ahmad.

azlan Dzulkefly, who is Johor PAS deputy commissioner, said that PAS was expecting the campaign period to fall during the middle of January, and will have to adjust their plans accordingly.

“We are trying to re-schedule our campaign, and hope that we still can maintain our momentum and the support from the people,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

The EC announced last Friday that the Tenang state constituency will go to the polls on Jan 30, two days before the Chinese New Year holiday.

It also set Jan 22 as nomination day, making it an eight-day campaign period.

Dzulkefly believes that the EC, alleged to be aligned to the ruling party, based their decision on the time frame on two important factors.

“Firstly, Umno wants to please the Chinese voter, so that they don’t need to go home twice, (and outsiders can make a one-time trip) for the by-election as well as the Chinse New Year.

“Secondly, they need extra time to prepare for the election,” he said.

He claimed that BN is watching the coming contest closely and will not want to see their winning margin decrease again.

During the 2004 general election, former Tenang assemblyperson the late Sulaiman Taha won the seat by majority of 5,517 votes.

However, in the 2008 general election the majority dropped drastically to 2,492.

“If we cannot win the by-election, it would be a setback for us; but (BN) getting a reduction in majority votes is also a setback to them,” said Dzulkefly.

‘We are not afraid of 1Malaysia NGO’

When asked whether he thought the so-called 1Malaysia NGO, that debuted during the Galas by-election campaign claiming to be a non-partisan group, may reappear during the Tenang campaign to woo the Chinese electorate, Dzulkefly said that they would counter it with their own Pakatan Rakyat 100-day reform plan.

NONE He also slammed the 1Malaysia slogan for being merely an empty slogan.

“Whether it is ‘1Malaysia’, ‘2Malaysia’, or ‘3Malaysia’, there is nothing in the brand. The content (is not there).

“We are not afraid of ‘1Malaysia’,” he said.

Pakatan’s reform plan on the other hand will show the Chinese voter a concrete macro plan of Pakatan’s administrations should they takeover Putrajaya.

“Based on our study, the Chinese community is more concerned about macro issues. The Malay community is more concerned about micro issues.

NONE “We will explain to them rather than attack (our opponent),” he said.

The 1Malaysia NGO, that is alleged backed by the MCA, was said to be the cause for the swing in Chinese voters towards the BN during the Galas by-election.

The Chinese vote in Tenang will be significant, at 5,766 voters (39.08 percent), while the constituency has 7,014 Malay voters (47.54 percent), 1,780 Indians (12.07 percent), 11 Orang Asal (0.07 percent), and 171 Orang Asli (1.16 percent).

Dzulkefly also disclosed that BN has already started its campaign activities, although the official campaign period was still distant.

‘’Yes, we aware, they are doing home to home campaigning as usual,’ he said.

'Logo ban existed in Umno's time'

Meanwhile on the issue of the Selangor ‘ban’ on the 1Malaysia logo, PAS Selangor today said that it had always been policy for businesses not to use logos belonging to political parties and that this had been practised under BN’s rule of the state in the past.

“All this while, none of the businesses’ banners in Selangor use any sort of logos or slogan belonging to any political party, whether from the government or from the opposition,” said PAS Selangor information chief Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir.

As such, Roslan Shahir said PAS Selangor stands firm behind the state’s decision to not support the use of the 1Malaysia logo on billboards and business banners licensed by the state.

“The ban is consistent with state regulations that have been in place since BN’s time in Selangor. Therefore we call on BN to respect the regulations and not politicise the ban,” he said.