FREE BY-ELECTIONS What's happening in the by-election campaigns in the parliamentary constituency of Batu Sapi and the Galas state seat? Quotable quotes, planned events and unplanned incidences as they occur in P185 and N45.
8.30am (Batu Sapi): The campaign hots up with posters, flags, banner and billboards mushrooming around the constituency, in particular the main street Jalan Batu Sapi.
They belong mostly to BN, with SAPP in tow and PKR and its candidate Ansari Abdullah’s posters hardly visible.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak hogs the billboards with tried and tested slogans.
9am (Batu Sapi): A Najib poster at the roundabout along Jln Batu Sapi is splashed with paint, and is removed a few hours later.
SAPP workers also complain of their posters being vandalised, with Batu Sapi candidate Yong Teck Lee’s images defaced with goatees and the word ‘babi’ (pig).
9.50am (Galas): Bukit Gantang MP Nizar Jamaluddin meets the residents of Kampung Baru and is greeted by a lion dance.
10.10am (Galas): PAS alleges that BN is up to pengundi hantu (phantom voters) tricks again as it is desperate.
Kota Bharu MP Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah also said PAS has no deal with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) on oil royalty.
"The reason we don't use it yet is because not many PAS leaders can debate that issue; once leaders are (confident) to talk about that issue we may raise it," he said.
10.30am (Galas): Ku Li (in white) officiates a Futsal programme with BN candidate Abdul Aziz Yusof in Sg Terah, one of the Malay majority areas in Galas, giving out 700 tickets to the Malaysia Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow night.
The Gua Musang MP however stresses that the freebies are only for party workers, and that it was not a form of vote buying. Meanwhile, many locals have complained that they cannot get their hands on the tickets.
With the state gripped by football fever, the campaigning is expected to take a back seat.
Kota Baru MP Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah says at the daily press briefing, “We focus on 'bola' first, then after we win, we focus back on the election."
11.17am (Batu Sapi): Pakatan national leaders blitz the campaign with PKR strategy director Tian Chua, PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar, Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim, DAP's Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching and colleague Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng from the Peninsula joining Sarawak’s Wong Ho Leng for a press conference at the PKR operations centre.
They launch leaflets in Chinese on Ansari’s track record in defending Sabah squatters in court cases and successfully stopping state demolition of their quarters.
11am (Galas): PAS candidate Dr Zulkefli and Kelantan MB Nik Aziz Nik Mat visit the Gua Musang hospital.
Outside the BN campaign centre in Sg Terai kids (right) are spotted distributing free copies of Berita Harian, a pro-Umno daily that has been critical of the opposition since the last general election.
12pm (Batu Sapi): SAPP candidate Yong visits two island villages and at one of them coaches residents of Kg Sanghai how to cheer for his party.
The villagers, who listen to Yong’s 20-minute election pitch, are visibly bewildered by the cheerleading exercise and exchange glances and stay reserved.
The 30-odd present are eventually coaxed into participating after some pleading from Yong.
1pm: (Galas): BN's Abdul Aziz attends Friday prayers at Masjid Tengku Muhammad Faiz Petra, Gua Musang.
2pm (Galas): Ku Li holds a meet and greet session and lunch with the residents of Taman Wangi.
4pm (Batu Sapi): SAPP candidate Yong Teck Lee challenges Chief Minister Musa Aman to declassify state documents related to the now-defunct Saham Amanah Sabah (SAS).
He says the government must release the documents so that the public will finally know why the government-guaranteed fund collapsed and local investors lost millions of ringgit.
The SAS collapse happened during the 1997-1998 financial crisis - coincidentally when Yong was chief minister under the two-year rotation system - and has since been a sore issue among many Sabahans, who expected to at least recoup their investment but have yet to see any solution to the decade-old issue.
5.23pm (Batu Sapi): Ansari (above) completes a check-up at Duchess of Kent Hospital after falling from another collapsed structure, while visiting a fishing village on stilts. He suffers minor injuries on his knee and chest.
5.45pm (Galas): Football mania hits fever pitch as an enterprising businessman sets up shop in the heart of town from his four wheel drive decked with Kelantan Red Warrior flags and packed with football merchandise.
Party lines blurred as police officers, military personnel, PAS supporters and BN election volunteers alike rushed to snap up T-shirts, caps, buttons and other Red Warrior paraphernalia.
At least for the moment, political differences between the BN blue and PAS green were set aside for the blood red Warrior's colour as talk shifted from by-election to chances of football victory over Negeri Sembilan tomorrow night.
8.00pm (Galas): MCA president Chua Soi Lek attends a dinner with the Chinese community at Kim Kee restaurant in Kampung Baru.
Abdul Aziz is also scheduled to join the 150-odd guests at the dinner.
8.00pm (Batu Sapi) Pakatan starts their ceramah at Tai Tung kindergarden, Taman Mawar with DAP Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng being the first speaker.
However the public response is not good, only around 70 people in the kindergarden's hall although Anwar arrived at around 8.10pm.
Ansari (left), who fell into the sea for second time this afternoon, also appeared at the ceramah, with his left arm in a sling.
He told Malaysiakini that he lost some skin off his left leg due to the fall.
10.20pm (Batu Sapi) Chief Minister Musa Aman says the people of Sabah are loyal to the BN, which he said is the only option if the people want development.
He said everything from hospitals to education needs money, and the BN is best positioned to help the people as it runs the federal government.
Musa said he has given his assurance to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Deputy Premier Muhyiddin Yassin that Sabahans will stick with BN.
“We help you, they help us,” he said in his speech at a Majlis Mesra Rakyat at the Sandakan multi-purpose hall.
Incidentally, Najib had said “I help you, you help me” when campaigning in the Sibu by-election last May, when he offered RM5 million to fix flood problems in Rajang Park.
1030pm (Batu Sapi) Anwar is making his third ceramah in Batu Sapi at a house in Kampung Lupak Meluas. However, only about 30 villagers turn out.
He motivated them, calling them to organise more such “ceramah kelompok” and getting more friends and relatives to attend.
He said all who attended tonight are appointed as “special officers” of the PKR election team in Batu Sapi to campaign for the party.
10.45pm (Galas) PAS ceramah at Bandar Baru Gua Musang featuring the PAS candidate Dr Zulkefli Mohamad and national Pakatan leaders including Kuala Selangor MP Dr Zulkefly Ahmad.
PAS lawyer Hanipa Maidin spoke about the federal government’s greed in denying oil royalty to Kelantan.
“The federal government already receive RM53.6 billion from Petronas, and yet they still want to deny Kelantan the RM4.1 billion in royalty.
“They deny Terengganu oil royalty when PAS was in power, but now that Umno is in charge, the MB is suddenly talking about getting royalty from Petronas.”
He also commented about Umno’s double standards in not allowing non-Muslim opposition politicians to enter mosques.
“They say that Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching cannot enter a surau because she did not cover her aurat, but the premier's wife rosmah can enter a mosque without a headscarf, Queen Elizabeth can enter the Shah Alam mosque in her skirt,” he said.