Speculation runs high that the BN will unveil its candidates for the 13th general election today even as the Election Commission (EC) has fixed the polling and nomination dates.

The polls are on May 5 and nominations on April 20.

BN chairman Najib Abdul Razak will meet coalition representatives again at the Putra World Trade Centre in the morning to shore up the BN election machinery and has scheduled a press conference later.

NONE Najib ( right ), who is spearheading the BN charge for the first time after taking over as prime minister four years ago, has indicated that he would name the candidates early and there would be surprises.

The much awaited announcement, if true, comes exactly a week after he dissolved the Dewan Rakyat and last Saturday, he launched BN's manifesto, promising to continue his work of transforming the nation and the lives of all Malaysians.

He reiterated the message in Ipoh yesterday when he spent the day and had lunch with representatives of Perak non-governmental organisations at the Tow Boh Keong Temple hall after performing the ground-breaking ceremony for the RM400 million locomotive manufacturing plant belonging to China-based CSR Group.

"The best is yet to come. We have delivered so much. With a strong mandate, we can even do better in the future. I promise you that," he said at the luncheon.

"I have asked myself what else the Chinese want? They want security, they want harmony. What else do they want? They want a government that is fair and just."

Najib said all these would be fulfilled if BN was given a bigger mandate in the coming polls.

shahrizat 300313 01 International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said yesterday that BN's promise to bring in RM1.3 trillion in investments over the next five years, as envisaged in its manifesto, was realistic.

Umno Wanita head and former federal minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil ( left ) said she would not be running while Cabinet member, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui, who is Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) president, confirmed he would give way to a new face after serving the Miri parliamentary constituency for six terms.

Strings attached

Meanwhile, tension has spilled in Johor between opposition partners - PKR and DAP - over the Johor Jaya Chinese-majority state seat.

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim announced in Tangkak the night before that state party chief Chua Jui Meng, denied of his ambition to contest the Gelang Patah parliamentary se a t, would instead be fielded in Segamat which was contested by the DAP and lost in the 2008 general election.

NONE DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang ( left ), who is standing in Gelang Patah, however, said his bid in Gelang Patah was a stand-alone decision and not in exchange of any parliamentary seat between the two parties, and letting PKR contest in Segamat came with strings attached.

DAP's agreement to relinquish Segamat was contingent on the settlement of "all DAP-PKR disputes on all seat allocations in Johor" with DAP contesting seven parliamentary seats and 15 state seats including Johor Jaya, said Lim.

"With Anwar's announcement, it can be taken that the contingent conditions for the DAP's agreement to let PKR contest in the Segamat parliamentary seat has been agreed upon by the PKR leadership," he said on his blog.

Lim has already named DAP Youth assistant publicity secretary Liow Cai Tun for Johor Jaya while Johor PKR had announced its legal bureau chief Jimmy Puah for the state seat which was contested in 2008 by Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

DAP and PKR are also at loggerheads over another state seat in Johor, Pengkalan Rinting.

- Bernama