KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 – Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak made a strong pitch today to the Kelantan people to return the Barisan Nasional (BN) to power on Sunday, after languishing under PAS’ broken promises for the past 23 years.
He singled out Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed as his choice for the post of menteri besar and pledged that the BN government would fulfil its promises to bring development to the state, if the coalition was given the mandate.
Kelantan is the latest campaign stop for Najib as he leads the BN into the general election for the first time as prime minister, and with a transformation manifesto to build a brighter future for all Malaysians.
Najib, who is BN chairman, is confident that Mustapa, with his vast experience as a federal minister, including the portfolio of international trade and industry minister, would bring considerable investments and implement projects for the benefit of the people.
A BN government would revitalise Kelantan with the Kota Baharu-Kuala Krai expressway, an iconic state mosque, stadium, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) town campus, 3,000 affordable homes, Kota Baharu rapid bus service and resolve the state’s water woes, he assured.
“I have promised to build affordable homes in Kota Baharu, for which work has already begun. We will also build in other places, in Pasir Puteh, too.
The seven promises are just the beginning, we will implement many other things,” said Najib, his voice hoarse from the campaigning, at a 1Malaysia people’s gathering in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sungai Petai, Pasir Puteh.
He was given a rousing welcome at his next stop in Machang before he moved on to Kota Baharu where he announced an additional 2,000 houses would be built under the People’s Housing Programme (PPR) for Kota Baharu residents to add to the 1,000 units announced during his visit to the state in March.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office has sternly refuted the Opposition’s claim that it was involved in flying voters into the Peninsula to support the BN.
“The Prime Minister’s Office denies any involvement in these flights. The Election Commission has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the electoral system is stronger than ever, and the elections are free and fair,” a government spokesman said in a statement.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the opposition’s attempt to smear the BN’s image with all kinds of disparaging statements and fabrication on blogs, social media and short-messaging-service (SMS) showed that it was getting desperate as polling neared.
“I have also received certain SMSes, among them which claimed we would be transporting 70,000 voters to Johor because the BN is losing, so we needed to bring in outsiders, including Bangladeshis,” he told reporters after attending a 1Malaysia people’s gathering in Kuantan.
Speaking in Maran earlier, Muhyiddin said the state BN had been entrusted to deliver an absolute victory in Pahang, which has always been a BN stronghold.
“We are a good government, trustworthy, and deliver all the pledges and many more that we will implement. The prime minister is asking for a mandate of five more years for us to boost development for the people because the challenge before us is to move towards a developed nation status with high income,” he said at a 1Malaysia people’s gathering there attended by 5,000.
In Putrajaya, the Election Commission (EC) held a special demonstration for the media to prove that the indelible ink used to mark the left index finger of voters could not be removed by rubbing or washing with water.
The EC assured that the ink, which is introduced for the first time in the general election to prevent voting fraud, would last between five to seven days.
In the case of an early voter who lodged a police report that the ink could be removed, EC secretary Datuk Kamaruddin Mohamed Baria said it was because the EC personnel did not shake the ink bottle for 30 seconds before using it.
BERNAMA
