PAS' adamance to boycott the Sungai Lembing re-election in Pahang on March 28 has put its candidate Idris Ahmad in a dilemma.

Yesterday, party president Abdul Hadi Awang said the decision to boycott was due to the irregularities that emerged last Sunday.

Polling for the state seat was rescheduled after the ballot papers wrongly depicted the Keadilan logo for the PAS candidate.

Meeting the president

Contacted today, Idris was on his way to Kuala Terengganu to meet Abdul Hadi.

"Yesterday, I tried to contact Tok Guru (Abdul Hadi) but I couldn't get through," he said.

The PAS candidate added that he learnt about the central committee meeting - which reaffirmed the boycott decision - at the PAS headquarters in Selangor yesterday via the newspapers this morning.

"I wish we could have talked about it first... (but) I'm sure he (Abdul Hadi) had his reasons for doing so ," said Idris, who did not sound to pleased with the decision.

He conceded that it would be difficult for him to suddenly ignore the Sungai Lembing electorate "as I am directly involved (in the re-election)".

To him, a boycott meant that party workers, including observers and polling agents, will be absent at the polling and counting centres.

"Whatever the outcome of my meeting with Tok Guru, I will personally make my rounds on polling day," he said.

"I don't think that means going against the party's stand. At the same time, we should not be seen as isolating our members and supporters," he added.

Sungai Lembing , with almost 12,000 registered voters, is a traditional Barisan Nasional stronghold under the parliamentary constituency of Paya Besar.

BN's Md Sohaimi Mohamed Shah, who won the seat by 1,297 votes in 1999, will defend it against Idris

Meanwhile, the Paya Besar PAS division is expected to decide its next course of action at a meeting tonight.

How to boycott

Certain PAS insiders claim the Election Commission may 'allow' PAS to win the Sungai Lembing seat to redeem its tainted reputation while others fear a boycott would lead to the party being accused of neglecting its members.

Contacted later, a party official in Kuantan said the central committee is determining how to carry out the boycott.

"We don't want to fall foul of the law. How the party is going to boycott will be announced tomorrow," he said.

"At the moment, the party can withdraw from the polls by, for example, removing all campaign material, but not the candidate," explained the official who requested anonymity.

It is learnt that PAS is also considering legal action against the EC over the ballot paper blunder. Party secretary-general Nasharuddin Mat Isa could not be reached for comment.