The abuse of government resources and machineries had contributed largely to Barisan Nasional's overwhelming victory in Saturday's Indera Kayangan by-election, claimed a Keadilan leader yesterday.

Keadilan Youth vice-chief Low Chee Chong said BN had spent more than RM1 million throughout the nine-day campaign period and promised an allocation of some RM25 million for local development.

"The RM25 million was for development and town-planning projects such as low-cost housing while RM1.14 million was the minimum allocation for campaign expenses," he said in a post-mortem report on the by-election.

According to the report, the RM1.14 million were for, among others, an estimated two million plastic party flags, 50 billboards, 6,000 banners, 2,000 vests bearing the BN logo, 10 days of banquet dinners, and lodging for some 1,000 party workers.

The report was presented last night to some 80 people at a seminar organised by the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the by-election.

BN in full control

Low said the enormous amount of money spent by BN, coupled with MCA's good connections with the local community and Chinese organisations, had given the ruling coalition full control over a small number of voters.

Citing the Anak Angkat (foster children) programme in which members of Umno Youth and Puteri wings were placed to stay with a few voters from nomination to polling day, he added: "BN's victory was also due to the financial and human resources it injected into predominantly Malay areas and its successful attempt to block Keadilan from campaigning in those areas."

He said the other factors include the manipulation of media, the choice of a woman candidate, and the voters who were said to be less "prepared for changes".

Last Saturday, BN retained the state seat of Indera Kayangan in Perlis when its MCA candidate Oui Ah Lan defeated Keadilan's Khoo Yang Chong by a majority of 2,592 votes in the much-anticipated by-election.

Oui polled a total of 4,279 votes while Khoo garnered 1,687 votes. The state seat fell vacant after incumbent Khor Liang Tee of BN died of colon cancer on Dec 19 last year.

Keadilan's weaknesses

In yesterday's report, Low conceded that there were weaknesses in Keadilan by-election strategy.

"There was no established organisation in the area, and the local party offices have not built a good rapport with the residents," he said.

He said Keadilan did not have a capable local leader and as a result of this, the issues concerning the Chinese Malaysian community highlighted by the party during the campaign could not gain enough momentum to shatter the close ties between BN and the local community.

The mainstream media, particularly the newspapers and television channels in the national language, was also controlled tightly in order to black out the opposition, added Low.

On a related matter, Low also criticised the Election Commission for failing to deal with unfair campaign practices by BN such as incurring excessive campaign expenses as well as assaults on several Keadilan supporters which have resulted in injuries.

Section 19 of the Election Offences Act 1954 states that for a campaign, the candidate and the election agents shall not spend more than RM30,000 in a state seat election.

Also present at last night's event with Low were DAP Youth chief Teng Chang Khim and Gerakan Youth secretary-general Hoo Saw Ho.

Sept 11 impact

Teng said the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States had very minimum impact in the recent by-election as Keadilan not only retained but also increased its Chinese votes.

However, he said it was of public impression that the by-election was a "proxy war" between the ruling Umno and its arch-rival PAS.

"Umno was working much harder in Malay villages. It had learnt how to tackle the same campaign strategy used by PAS and Keadilan in Lunas," he said.

Teng added both Keadilan and DAP should "think about their future in national politics and how to reposition themselves" by evaluating their respective and each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Hoo, however, disagreed with Teng and said the Sept 11 attacks did leave an impact on the by-election.

"It was the first time that BN won in all balloting boxes. Women voters voted for BN because they were fearful of the Taliban-like PAS and its Islamic state agenda," he said.

Hoo added that DAP would have gained more Chinese votes if the party helped Keadilan in the predominantly Chinese areas.

"DAP could have helped to neutralise the effect of the Sept 11 attacks and make people more comfortable with Keadilan and PAS," he said.

DAP withdrew from the Barisan Alternatif last September, citing irreconcilable differences with its former ally PAS over the latter's intention of setting up an Islamic state in Malaysia.

Subsequently, DAP decided to neither contest nor assist in the Indera Kayangan by-election campaign.