S'WAK POLLS | LIVE BLOG DAY 2 The battle for Sarawak enters Day Two, and official campaigning is expected to get off to a rumbling start.
The clash between DAP and PKR over six seats is expected to remain a hot issue, with the former set to hold a press conference on the matter in Kuala Lumpur.
Questions on this will also likely be raised during a PKR press conference in Kuching after the launch of their manifesto.
On BN's side, Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem will be launching a reviewed manifesto in the morning.
He will then meet with the media for a press night in Kuching.
Follow our LIVE BLOG as the Malaysiakini team in Sarawak brings you the news as it happens. (Scroll down to see our photo gallery.)
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem says would-be visitors to Sarawak need to 'behave themselves' or end up on the ban list. He reiterates Sarawak BN has nothing to do with 1MDB
11.00pm - Padungan, Kuching: Around 800 people attend DAP's ceramah in the heart of Sarawak's capital which centres around the Goods and Services Tax as well as SUPP's alleged failing.
However, Sarawak DAP chairperson Chong Chieng Jen who is defending his Kota Sentosa seat in Kuching is absent.
Malaysiakini understands that Chong is lending a hand to DAP candidates in other constituencies.
10.30pm - Third Mile, Kuching: SUPP candidate for Batu Kitang Lo Khere Chiang attends a youths' question-and-anwer session at a coffee shop which attracted some 500 people.
He tells them Adenan has done much to reduce the cost of living including lowering electricity tariff, abolishin tolls and quit rent, as well as reducing the assessment rate.
A member of the audience asks if supporting Adenan would mean supporting Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who is mired in a financial scandal.
Lo stresses that strong support for Adenan is needed for him to negotiate with Najib.
"Then the chief minister can represent us to bargain for our rights with the Federal government," said Lo.
10.15pm - Julau, Sarikei: Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi warns DAP not to drag the families of kidnap victims into their election campaign, reports Bernama.
"The DAP is capitalising on the matter. This is not something that it should do to aggravate the emotion of the families.
The truth is efforts are ongoing to secure their release. We are in talks with the Philippine authorities and the militant groups involved in the kidnapping," says Zahid, who is also Home Minister.
Yesterday, the family of one of the sailor, who are native to Sibu, took to the stage of both DAP and BN's ceramah to appeal for help.
Early this month, gunmen kidnapped four sailors off the coast of Semporna.
10pm-Dudong, Sibu: BN heats up the scene with a selection of titilatting dance and a singing performance by BN candidate Tiong Thai King.
The three-hour ceramah reached a climax as Tiong took to the stage to sing a Christian worship song 'I Know Who Holds Tomorrow'.
He is also given a 'zongzi', a rice dumpling which name has a similar pronunciation as the Chinese words that mean 'be elected'.
More than 300 people wave the BN fan provided by organisers, to Tiong's moving performance.
Other performers include 2013 Astro Star Quest champion Esther who sang 'Percayalah', 'Set Fire To The Rain', and two Chinese songs.
Organisers also urge the audience to pray for the four native Sibu Sarawakians still held captive by militants after kidnapped in waters off Sabah shores.
Tiong caught bad press last night when the family members of the victims were turned away at Tiong's event, but this was a misunderstanding, he says.
"They say Ah Thai is a bad guy. The whole Malaysia knows me after they wrote this. This is helping me for publicity," he says, to the applause.
9.10PM - Miri : DAP's Senadin candidate Dr Bob Baru questions if the Najib administration can actually afford the RM350 million planned Miri Hospital upgrade announced in August last year under the 11th Malaysia Plan.
"They can promise millions but where do the millions come from? We are facing a serious financial crisis," Bob tells a crowd of 300 constituents. The crowd is almost exclusively ethnic Chinese.
Miri DAP's manifesto leaflets make good makeshift fans for a hot night it seems @malaysiakini pic.twitter.com/cmp86uNSQ8
— Zikri Kamarulzaman (@zikri) April 26, 2016
He says the government has yet to deliver on its promise to build a hospital in Simanggang two years ago, while many other health facilities such as the Miri polyclinic, Tudang children's hospital and Lawas hospital are old and decrepit.
"These are basic facilities and they can't afford to upgrade them," the medical doctor says.
BN Senadin candidate Lee Kim Shin has been highlighting the proposed upgrades to the Miri Hospital as one of his successes as the seat's incumbent assemblyperson.
9.00pm - Batu Kawah, Kuching: 500 people attend DAP's ceramah in RPR Batu Kawah, a low-cost housing area with Chinese, Iban and Malay residents.
While the ceramah scene is a mixed area, most attendees are Chinese, the traditional support base for the DAP.
The speakers including four DAP candidates for Chinese-majority urban seats in Kuching, namely Violet Yong (Pending) and Wong King Wei (Padungan). Abdul Aziz Isa (Batu Kitang) and Christina Chiew (Batu Kawah) are expected to speak next.
Yong urges voters to help Chiew to defend Batu Kawah against SUPP president Dr Sim Kui Hian.
"I came here to help my sister Chiew...She is facing a SUPP giant Dr Sim."
Speaking in the Hokkien dialect, Yong says Sim, a cardiologist, cannot cure BN.
"BN is hopeless. You are better to be doctor, you can't save BN. We want you to be cardiologist. Politics is not suitable to you," she says to laughter from the crowd.
The RPR Batu Kawah voting district was carved out from Batu Lintang to Batu Kawah in the latest delineation exercise.
The DAP polled 428 against BN's 399 with a 29 slim majority in this voting district, in the last state election.
8.25pm - Kuching : Sarawak BN chief Adenan takes on criticisms head on.
He says Sarawak BN has nothing to do with 1MDB and since his rule, there has been no new approvals of private sector plantation, in recognition of native customary rights (NCR) land.
On the immigration ban, he says he allowed DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and his father, veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang into Sarawak because they are "well-behaved".
"Behave yourself," he tells potential visitors.
8:14pm - Kuching: Sarawak BN chief Adenan Satem says in a meet-the-press session tonight that the opposition "sleeps together but dreams differently".
6.00pm - Kuala Lumpur: Amanah president Mohamad Sabu hopes his partners in Pakatan Harapan, PKR and DAP, can settle their seat spat in Sarawak.
He is confident this can be done to ensure that Harapan's aspirations for Sarawak and Malaysia can become a reality.
"Amanah is very hopeful that national and state DAP and PKR leaders can find the best solution before polling day so that only one (Harapan) candidate goes against BN," he says in a statement.
5.30pm Pakan, Sarikei - Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announces a RM200,000 grant to build a futsal court for a longhouse in Pakan.
"Play futsal properly. Don't kick your friends' legs. In politics, we always end up kicking our friends' legs," the BN Sarawak election director says.
He also jokingly assures BN Pakan William Mawan's wife that she has nothing to worry about DAP's candidate, Rinda Juliza Alexander.
"Don't be jealous of his contender, Puan Sri. She is young but that's okay. This is democracy. Lawan tetap lawan, we will fight anyone," he says.
Lawan tetap lawan is PKR's slogan, which roughly translates to 'fight til the end'.
He also leads the audience to chant 'Hidup BN' (Long Live BN).
The DPM is celebrated with a miring ceremony - an Iban ceremony to seek blessings.
5.00pm, Sibu:
BN direct candidates Janet Lau, Wong Soon Koh and Tiong Thai King
visit the families
of the Sarawakian sailors kidnapped off the shores of Sabah.
This is to clear "misunderstanding" when the families were turned away at a BN event last night.
4.00pm: DAP's Pengkalan Rinting assemblyperson Cheo Yee How claims a DAP campaigner for Rinting was assaulted on nomination day yesterday.
He claims BN supporters asked a DAP campaigner, Ong Yew Thai: "This is an Iban area, why are you here?"
Ong was then "strangled and threatened".
"Don't you know that Ibans can kill?" Ong was allegedly told.
Cheo says Ong police protection at the Kapit police station.
A video uploaded on Cheo's Facebook page shows BN supporters kicking and hitting a police van as it passes. Anti-riot personnel were deployed.
3.17pm: Amanah Youth vice-president Shazni Munir condemns the clash between DAP and PKR.
"If any leader can make unilateral decisions beyond the negotiation table, then what difference is there with Pakatan Rakyat?
"Everyone should respect the legitimacy of the Harapan Presidential Council," he says.
2.30pm - Kuching: BN component Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) wants voters to "give SUPP a chance."
The party says it has turned over a new leaf in order to restore its political strength and become a formidable component party of BN.
“The opposition did not deliver any benefits, or improve the living standards of voters in the past five to 10 years. The voters had given the opportunity to the opposition party but DAP could not deliver its commitments," SUPP says.
SUPP says voters can change the elected SUPP candidates if they do not deliver any tangible benefits after five years.
SUPP is fielding five candidates, three lawyers and two incumbent assistant state ministers.
Meanwhile, the SUPP candidate for Kota Sentosa, Wilfred Yap, 50, pledges to help alleviate municipal issues and push for the construction of a flyover and a by-pass in the constituency if elected.
He also pledges to increase the number of CCTVs, increase police presence and create more jobs. Yap, a lawyer by profession, will be contesting against state DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen.
2pm - Kuching: Sarawak BN launches its manifesto themed 'Give TeamAdenan A Chance'.
It lays out BN's pledges to the people to achieve the shared aspirations for a more peaceful, progressive and prosperous Sarawak.
1.15pm - Kuching:
DAP's Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo joins the list of barred individuals. He is
deported
back to Kuala Lumpur.
12.58pm - Miri: DAP secretary-general Tan Kok Wai says Sarawak BN chief Adenan Satem cannot claim BN is set for a landslide victory and then ban opposition leaders from entering the state.
Tan says the growing immigration ban shows the "dark side" behind Adenan's liberal facade.
12.28pm - Batu Kitang, Kuching: PKR candidate Voon Shiak Ni's campaign manager Simon Siah denies DAP's claim that Voon's proposer is a bankrupt.
12.13 pm - Kuching: The Sarawak DAP says it has fielded the youngest candidates among all the parties in the state election, with 13 of its 31 candidates below the age of 40.
"We need more young voices in the state assembly. Of all the political parties, DAP is most wiling to provide a platform for young people," state DAP leader Chong Chieng Jen says.
He says the average age of candidates is 45 years of age. Its youngest candidate is Leslie Ting, who is aged 25. Ting is an eleventh hour candidate and he is contesting the Stakan seat.
The second youngest candidate is Abdul Aziz Isa (extreme left in photo) , 27, who will contest Batu Kitang.
Five of the DAP candidates are lawyers by profession.
Sarawak's oldest candidate is Wong Soon Koh, who resigned as UPP president to contest as a BN direct candidate for Bawang Assan. He is 74 years old.
12.10pm - Kuching: PKR launches its manifesto which promises abolition of the goods and services tax, building infrastructure on par with that in Peninsular Malaysia, restoring Sarawak autonomy and emulating Selangor and Penang government policies in Sarawak.
Separately, PKR candidate for Batu Kitang Voon Shiak Ni says PKR will focus on attacking BN and not DAP.
"We are not going to campaign personal to DAP and (its Batu Kitang candidate Abdul) Aziz (Isa), no.
"We want to be profession and our enemy is BN," she says.
12pm - Kuala Lumpur: DAP organising secretary Anthony Loke says DAP is willing to stand down in Batu Kitang if PKR does the same in the five other constituencies.
11.40am - Sibu:
PKR's Nangka candidate Abdul Raafidin Majidi
(left)
dares his BN contender Annuar Rapaee to
a debate
on who is qualified to be Sarawak chief minister.
This is after Annuar called on Muslims not to squander the chance to lead the state.
"As a Melanau, I support justice for all regardless of political background. One's right as a Sarawakian is prioritised above all," Abdul Raafidin said.
9.52am - Kuala Lumpur: PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim tells DAP and PKR that it is not too late to renegotiate on the seats where both parties are contesting.
9.45am - Nangka, Sibu: BN's Nangka candidate Annuar Rapaee bars Malaysiakini from covering his walkabout in the constiuency.
9.30am - Batu Kitang, Kuching: The Chinese majority seat is one of six where DAP and PKR will lock horns.
This morning, PKR candidate Voon Siak Ni visits the third mile wet market, where some of those present quiz her on the reasons behind the DAP-PKR friendly fire.
She replies by asking them to vote for No.1 - her number on the ballot paper.
While the Batu Kitang area is littered with BN and PKR flags, DAP flags however are absent. It is learnt that DAP is preparing their party machinery, given the last minute decision to contest the seat.
Batu Kitang has 17,489 voters. Of this, 59.1 percent are Chinese, 22 percent Malay-Melanau and 18.9 percent Dayak.
Since the new seat was carved out from the Kota Sentosa and Batu Kawah seats, both held by DAP, it is expected that the opposition stands a higher chance of winning it.
Voon will be contesting against DAP’s Abdul Aziz Isa, Lo Khere Chiang (BN-SUPP) and two others.
[More to follow]
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