The campaigning for the Kuala Terengganu by-election has entered its fourth day. The issue of Terengganu state government’s RM1 billion oil royalty and its usage has become the battleground for Barisan National and PAS.

PAS first round of propaganda offensive claims that oil royalty has benefited only the BN cronies while ordinary people got nothing out of it and continue to suffer. Defending itself, BN is trying to project a “BN is for all” image.

kuala terengganu by election bn poster billboard campaigns 080109 04 Oil royalty is also a hot issue. With oilfields in the seas off Terengganu, the federal government have to pay a five percent oil revenue to the Terengganu state government.

The opposition claims that this huge sum of money was not properly utilised but channelled into activities that bring no benefit to the people, such as the Monsoon Cup , Islam Hadhari theme park and Crystal Mosque .

The oil royalty issue later exploded into the political wrestle for the Terengganu MB position after the 2008 general election. The Terengganu royalty wanted incumbent MB Idris Jusoh to be replaced with Ahmad Said.

Scrap collecting vs Monsoon Cup

BN candidate Wan Ahmad Farid and his brother Wan Hisham are considered to be Idris’ men. Wan Hisham is controversial as he is seen to be one of the main supporter for the Monsoon Cup .

kuala terengganu by election 080109 monsoon cup PAS has at least two flyers on the Monsoon Cup issue. One of the flyer shows a child with a BN cap collecting scraps and the other one riding an expensive bicycle, implying that the Monsoon Cup has keep BN elite in power, but the people continue to suffer.

Another flyer pointed out that Adun Ladang in Kuala Terengganu still suffers from flooding, yet BN’s only solution is the Monsoon Cup which benefit only the Umno cronies.

The Monsoon Cup is an annual sailboat racing contest held in Pulau Duyong near Kuala Terengganu. According to Ahmad Said, the race cost RM250 million annually.

BN 'instant mee' projects

Another PAS flyer has criticised that only when by-election comes around, then BN will repair roads in Kuala Terengganu. It described these projects as instant mee projects.

kuala terengganu by election bn poster billboard campaigns 080109 01 BN has put up a lot of banner and signboard in the Kuala Terengganu town refuting PAS’ accusation. One claimed that the federal government has return the oil royalty, and showed a photo where DPM Najib is handing over a RM400 million mock check to Ahmad Said.

BN propaganda campaign seems to be inspired by US in-coming president Barack Obama’s campaign. It has adopted former US president Lincoln’s motto: “Of the people, by the people, for the people”.

The BN campaign highlights its various “pro-rakyat” policies and also stresses that the oil price was brought down.

kuala terengganu by election 080109 poster bn wan farid mesra rakyat BN tries to portray its individual leaders in a positive light. On signboards, it has showed pictures of PM Abdullah, Najib, Ahmad Said and Wan Ahmad Farid, giving prominence to the point that BN leaders are: “ Dari rakyat, kepada rakyat, untuk rakyat ”.

Other BN signboard have showed BN leaders visiting floods areas, showing concern for youth, delivering a message that BN cares for the people.

BN ‘reminds’ the rakyat

kuala terengganu by election 080109 bn balloon Answering question from the media, Wan Farid yesterday denied that BN present campaign in highlighting “BN for the rakyat”, means that BN has previously neglected the interest of the people.

He said that BN has always uphold people’s interest but it has not made a big thing out of them, but now, BN wants to “remind the rakyat”.

The election campaign in Kuala Terengganu has showed clearly that the main political rivals have significant gap in terms of resources.

kuala terengganu by election 080109 pas flyers PAS having lesser resource has chose to put up posters of its candidate and the PAS flag only. A gigantic PAS flag is the best they can do, with no signboard in sight.

On the opposite side, BN has flooded Kuala Terengganu with flags, posters, banners and signboards. All of them manage to occupy strategic places along the major roads.

BN also play their usual “multi-racial” and “stability” cards. Outside the Terengganu state government media centre, there are two huge banners, stressing “Security, peace and prosperity”, and “BN the only choice”.

kt by election 070109 yes we can billboard Recently-elected US president Obama’s slogan, “Yes we can”, was adopted by BN too. In one of the signboard, it was altered into a slogan “One wish, one Malaysia, Yes we can”, claiming that BN is capable of maintaining the interests of all races.

Terengganu PAS chief Mustafa Ali yesterday said: “PAS is not as rich as Umno, so it cannot spend money in signboard fights with BN.

“We are not as rich as BN, but we can still afford huge PAS flags, as we have tailors,” he added.

On the other hand, independent candidate Azharuddin Mamat has zero campaign posters or banners.