Voters turn out by car and canoe
By canoe and on foot through jungle tracks, rural voters trekked to polling stations today as city-slickers in the capital cast a quick ballot and headed for the high-tech world of the Formula One Grand Prix.
The rural-urban divide reflects the issues in an election which has pitted the government's promise of economic development against the Islamic opposition's pledge of heaven for supporters of its fundamentalist programme.
In the eastern state of Sabah on the northern tip of Borneo island, voters from the tribes living in the interior paddled downstream on canoes for about an hour to reach the nearest polling centre.
Ethnic Muruts living close to the Indonesian border trekked for up to four hours along leech-infested jungle tracks to cast their votes.
In the capital Kuala Lumpur, which is also hosting the Malaysian Grand Prix, turnout was initially slow but gathered pace by late morning.
Put country first
A businessman in an upmarket four-wheel drive vehicle in a Chinese-dominated district told AFP he had come to vote early so that he could watch the Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit in the afternoon.
In the Muslim-dominated district of Taman Keramat lines of up to a hundred people waited for their turn to vote at a school building.
Muhamad Hasnul Aizam Bakin, 35, a senior systems engineer with a telecommunications firm, said he had a free-ticket for Formula One, but decided to give it to a colleague so he could follow the vote count.
"I put my country first," he said.
Up in the northern Muslim heartland, the election machinery of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition and the opposition Islamic party PAS were clearly at work.
Throngs of voters were ferried from their homes to the polling centres by private cars from both parties.
The more affluent drove to the polling areas, while others trudged the narrow village streets.
'Response good'
In opposition-held Terengganu, which PAS seized in 1999 elections, many voters wore the traditional Muslim attire of headscarves for women and white skull caps for men.
In the district of Marang, held by PAS chief Abdul Hadi Awang, entire families turned up, some in wheelchairs, others carrying babies or walking with the aid of sticks.
"The response is good, the fine weather is making everyone come out to vote early," said clerk Mohamad Ali, 23, who voted for the opposition.
Pointing to a nearby yellow van, he said: "We must provide transport to our supporters. It is very crucial to get them to a polling booth."
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his wife cast their votes at a primary school near his house in the northern state of Penang.
Asked about how he felt, he told reporters with a big smile: "Very good, as good as it can be. I'm quite confident I would expect a bigger majority, God willing." - AFP
For more news and views that matter, subscribe and support independent media for only RM0.36 sen a day:
Subscribe now