Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali is not that enthusiastic about boycotting the upcoming general election, as proposed by certain groups in the opposition.

He said the boycott of the Batu Talam by-election was ineffective because there was a lack of awareness of the boycott on the part of the voters and that opposition party leaders had a 'difference of opinion' on what constitutes a boycott.

"Some say that people should vote while others said no. This means that we (opposition leaders) could not give a clear message to the voters," said Syed Husin.

He said that a boycott of the general election by opposition parties would depend on the 'mood' of the voters at the time.

"For now, we are still lacking in organisation and ability to spread word of a boycott," he added.

Syed Husin said this in his opening address at a round-table discussion on democracy and election organised by Coalition for a Free and Fair Elections (Bersih) in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Ampang today.

At a press conference later however, Syed stressed that PKR and PAS' boycott of the Batu Talam by-election was a right decision.

"(It was done) in order to tell the world, the government and the Election Commission that the commission was unfair. This was achieved quite well," he said.

"As it is now, people believe in elections. They take it as a festival. (In the future) we have to be very careful in deciding whether to boycott an election, especially if it's the general election," said the former academic-turned politician.

BN's bittersweet win

Ronnie Liu who also attended the press conference cast doubt on whether the trouncing of independent candidate Ng Chee Pang by Barisan Nasional's Abdul Aziz Kiram during the Jan 28 by-election, could be considered a true victory.

"It is very difficult for BN to claim victory in Batu Talam because it is their traditional stronghold and that they had spent so much money. SPR stipulated that they cannot spend more than RM100,000 in a campaign.

"But looking at what happened in Batu Talam, they spent more than RM100,000 a day which resulted in an increase in 862 votes (for BN). It's a very small number considering the huge resources and machinery being put in," said Liu, a DAP leader who is also Bersih committee member.

Under election laws, no more than RM100,000 can be spent by a candidate for a state assembly seat. Opposition parties often claim that this rule is often flouted by Barisan Nasional candidates who gets away unpunished.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said it was common for a higher voter turnout to occur during by-elections, but it was not the case in Batu Talam which saw a reduction by about 10 percent as compared to the 2004 general election.

"In my opinion, BN did not win in real terms," he said.