Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) information chief Tian Chua is not worried about what has been claimed as 'monetary lure' of the Barisan Nasional to Pengkalan Pasir voters living outside Kelantan, saying that such an inducement would have little effect on how they cast their votes.

However, he is worried with the BN's claim of locating these 'outside voters' which he suspects to be phantom voters.

"I wonder if these so-called 'outside voters' that they have located are genuine voters. I have my doubts these voters whom they are luring with money and flight tickets are genuine. I am very suspicious as they may be saying this to cover attempts to mobilise phantom voters," he said.

Tian said that PKR's experience with phantom voters at the 2000 Lunas by-election (where the party claimed to have stopped a bus-load of phantom voters from casting ballots - a charge denied by BN) proved that his worries are valid.

"All election workers have been cautioned to be on the lookout for phantom voters as we all know how desperate BN is to wrest Kelantan from the PAS government."

PKR - PAS' ally in the opposition's Barisan Alternatif - has given its commitment to assist PAS in the by-election caused by the death of PAS assemblyperson Wan Ab Aziz Wan Jaafar on Oct 31.

Sharing Tian's worry is vice-president Mohd Azmin Ali who claimed that he had identified a total of 4,500 voters - from the total 18,000 registered voters - who are not known to the locals.

"We found 4,500 names found in the Pengkalan Pasir electoral roll whose identities are unknown to the locals. We cannot determine the real status of these voters - whether they are new voters or illegally brought in from outside," he said.

Meanwhile PAS has decided to rope in the public to ensure that phantom voters do not infiltrate the by-election by offering a RM15,000 reward to those who would be able to provide correct information of the presence of phatom voters.

"Based on previous elections, we can say there is is an inclination to bring in unqualified voters from outside to vote in the Pengkalan Pasir constituency," PAS secretary general Kamaruddin Jaafar said yesterday.

Unethical lure

It was reported in the New Straits Times yesterday that election workers from MCA have identified 129 Chinese voters who are staying outside the constituency and another 129 outside Kelantan.

The report also stated that Umno Youth has been given the task to persuade the outsiders to return for the by-election and that there was plans to not only pay RM100 to each voter outside the constituency and RM150 to those outside the state but also to pay for air tickets.

As for the monetary offers, Tian described such lures as "unethical" and will look into the matter further to see if it breaches election rules.

"It's wrong to allow a political party who have a stake in the election to give money and plane tickets to lure voters. I will not hesitate to lodge a complaint with the Election Commission if we have enough evidence to do so," he said.

He agreed that it was important for PAS to secure the Chinese votes to ensure that it could retain the seat but admitted this was a tough task when MCA and Gerakan have mobilised all their resources to capture the 938 Chinese votes for the BN.

"Our financial resources is extremely limited compared to the BN but we will continue with efforts to reach out to the Chinese voters through small ceramahs and door-to-door visits," he said.

The BN has organised entertainment programmes for the Chinese in the constituency by bringing in famous singers and a wushu team.

"Rather then stoop to such tactics, we will try to gain their votes by speaking on serious issues like corruption, education - the usage of English in teaching Maths and Science, police abuse - like those face by Chinese nationals," ian added.

Determining factor

Both BN and PAS campaigners would readily admit that the Chinese voters are the determining factor in the by-election as PAS only won by a slim majority of 55 votes in the 2004 general election.

PAS aims to secure at least 30 percent from the Chinese votes and PKR Youth vice head Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin believed that this is possible.

"We are working hard together with PAS' Anuar Tan in engaging the Chinese voters. We see that he has worked very hard to convince them to support PAS. And seeing many of thm turning up for Anwar Ibrahim's ceramah perdana last week, I think he's doing an effective job."

'I think we need about 200 votes from the Chinese to secure victory...that is if phantom voters do not get in the way," he said.