PENANG Najib Abdul Razak's scheduled visit to Bukit Tengah tomorrow has raised the question as to whether he is on a mission to add spark to BN's lacklustre election campaign .

NONE According to political campaigners, Bukit Tengah candidate Teng Chang Yeow (left in photo) - the state BN head - has been unable to draw enough crowds to events in the constituency held by PKR's Ong Chin Wen (right in photo) .

Former BN Batu Kawan coordinator A Mohan , who quit Gerakan  when he failed to make it to the coalition’s candidacy list, is also contesting the state seat as an Independent, and may draw votes away from Teng.

Teng is scheduled to hold press briefings on a daily basis to raise or clarify issues of the day but has cancelled four such appointments, leaving journalists in the dark about his movements.

His allies disagree with the accusations levelled against him, also denying that Najib is planning a trip to Juru - an industrial area in the constituency -  to help Teng woo voters.

NONE "The visit does not have anything to do with the election campaign. Since he (Najib) is coming to Penang, we’ve only taken the opportunity to invite him here. We will then express our demands," said Batu Kawan division chief Ng Siew Lai (left) .

Ng believes that the BN, which has a 50-50 percent chance of capturing Bukit Tengah, prefers to campaign door-to-door  instead of organising nightly ceramahs, which are intended to explain the BN manifesto to voters.

On the cancellation of daily press meets, Ng said this was probably because Teng had lost his voice since the campaign began on April 20.

Najib is scheduled to arrive in the state at 2.30pm and to visit the second Penang bridge project, Penaga in the north and Bukit Tengah.

He will return to the island and attend two dinners - one at the Hotel Equatorial and the other at Rifle Range with Federal Reserve Unit personnel.

Najib will also visit the Juru night market, with about 5,000 people expected to be present.

Appeals for Najib

Ng said the Batu Kawan division will appeal to Najib to relocate the Juru immigration detention camp and the Ladang Juru Tamil school.

About 400 households and a 3,000-unit residential area - comprising 5,000 or one-third of Bukit Tengah voters - are now situated near the detention camp which houses 600 foreigners.

“As Juru has gone through rapid development and has seen an increase in population, local residents hope the government will shift the detention camp, which was built in the 1970s, to a more suitable site,” she said.

“Four years ago there was an outbreak of leptospirosis at the camp which led to two deaths and 35 people becoming infected. For safety and health reasons, residents hope the camp can be move to the Jawi prison.”

The Juru polling district is deemed a Pakatan Rakyat stronghold as Ong secured 1,254 votes there in the 2008 outing.

Ng, the former Bukit Tengah assemblyperson, criticised Ong for not having performed well since taking over from her.

"He has neglected the constituency. He has put no effort into handling the problem of flooding, and has not improved the mitigation system or basic infrastructure either. Many have complained to me about his poor service," she said.

Ng urged voters to consider whether they should vote for a more capable candidate on Sunday, although they had shouted “Ubah!” (change) - the DAP's election slogan - at the BN during the election campaign.

"Instead of changing the federal government, why not get rid of a non-performing assemblyperson and replace him with a better one?" she asked.

Free PRU13 app - GE updates at your fingertips