Tomorrow, 26,195 eligible voters in Likas, Sabah, will be out to make their vote count as they elect their new representative to the state assembly, despite the prevalent conviction that there are some votes that shouldn't count.

Clearly, the hot topic, especially in the emotionally-charged campaigns conducted by the ruling front Barisan Nasional (BN) and its rival Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), is phantom voters.

"It is true, there are phantom voters," said a Sabahan, who expressed his frustration that outsiders might find it difficult to understand this 'special' phenomenon of Sabah.

"Because of the phantom voters, we (Sabahans) cannot make any changes (to the state government)," he said.

The by-election was called following the landmark judgment of Election Court Justice Muhammad Kamil Awang ordering former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee to vacate his seat on the grounds that the electoral roll for the constituency was illegal as it contained high numbers of phantom voters.

Yong, of Barisan Nasional (BN), is recontesting the seat. His opponents are Dr Chong Eng Leong of PBS, Christina Liew of Keadilan and Joshua Kong, an independent.

Despite various assurances from the authorities that the latest electoral roll is 'clean', many in the community still doubted it.

The Sabahan who spoke to malaysiakini admitted that the local people are frustrated with the existence of phantom voters, and even the opposition parties are powerless to tackle the issue.

"They (politicians involved) have the power and money, how are we going to stop them?" he sighed.

Indeed, the very pervasiveness of the presence of phantom voters has rendered it almost a non-issue to some. According to Sim Kwang Yang, former member of parliament for Kuching, some in the Chinese community adopt an almost dismissive attitude about it.

"They told me, 'We know the phantom voters and illegal immigrants, and they work for us'," said Sim, who is there to campaign for the opposition.

Umno semenanjung vs Keadilan

Sim conceded that Yong, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president, will 'regain' his seat.

"BN can garner a lot of Chinese support as the result of Yong's close personal relationship with them," Sim said, adding that Keadilan should be prepared to lose as the party is too young in Sabah, though another observer does not rule out the possibility of sympathy votes for the party.

An interesting observation made by some journalists here is the lack of support the leaders of the other Sabah BN parties have shown in coming out to campaign for Yong.

This is hardly surprising as some of the Sabah Umno leaders wanted Yong out of the picture before nomination day.

Since the Likas constituency has a 60 percent of Muslim-bumiputra population, they had reasoned that a candidate of the same religion and ethnic should be fielded there to enhance Sabah Umno's strength in the 2004 general elections.

Likas was once a Chinese majority area. However, after the last electoral boundary re-delineation exercise, the electorate now comprises 16,000 Muslim-bumiputras, 8,000 Chinese, and 2,000 Kadazandusuns.

The Likas seat is literally being seen as a fight between 'Umno semenanjung ' (peninsular Umno) and Keadilan. Banners and flags of Umno, BN and Keadilan are noticeable in Likas and Likas Timor, while one is hardpressed to find PBS banners in the streets.

"The votes of the Muslim-bumiputra will be divided, and at this moment it is hard to say where the votes will swing to," said a local journalist who declined to be named.

Silent voters

There was some uneasiness with the aggressive ways of certain semenanjung leaders in fishing for votes.

"In Sabah politics, we don't call people ' syaitan ' (devils), and we do not mount personal attacks," said PBS supreme council member Ali Latip, referring to Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein's speeches in several ceramahs .

Another PBS supreme council member Saidin Simoi voiced his disgust with Hishammuddin for allegedly using lewd words in his speeches.

"His speeches have tarnished the image of Islam, and we, the Sabah Muslim-bumiputra leaders are ashamed of them," he said.

Saidin admitted that the voters in Likas are 'silent voters', but he is fully confident that PBS will garner at least 60 percent support from Likas voters.

"But we can only win the seat without the phantom voters," he said.

A local observer who wished to remain anonymous, expected that PBS' Chong will acquire a slightly higher number of votes compared with his standing in the previous state election.

"Chong has less than 40 percent votes in the last election. However, his serious effort in bringing the phantom voters issue to court has enhanced his image as a loyal politician in PBS, and this will win the hearts of the voters," he told malaysiakini .

Chong has previously been labelled a katak (frog) as he had hopped from PBS to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and later from Gerakan to PBS.

Money will decide

Meanwhile, sources told malaysiakini that certain quarters have started to deliver money to the voters.

"We learnt that some people have sent RM50 to be distributed to each voter at Gudon," said the source.

Gudon has 2,583 voters, 74 percent of whom are Muslim-bumiputra.

A senior journalist in Kota Kinabalu stated that Likas by-election is different from the Lunas by-election.

The latter saw the incumbent BN succumbing to a shock defeat in the hands of Keadilan due to, many believe, matters of principle.

"This (Likas) is not an ideology fight; in the end, the money will decide where the votes go," the journalist said.