KUALA LUMPUR, july 1- Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan said today it was fine for the EC to call for the Kuala Besut by-election during the fasting month because there was a precedent.
“Thirty-four years ago, in the same place and same state, an assemblyman has died and we held the by-election) during fasting month. So there is no problem with that,” he told reporters at Parliament today.
Tengku Adnan was referring to the Kuala Besut by-election in 1979 where Umno’s Wan Zakaria Abdul Rahman emerged victor against a PAS opponent.
This year’s fasting month would begin on July 9 and end on Aug 7. The EC has previously said that the by-election must be held by Aug 27. The EC is to meeting this Friday to set the polling date.
The pending Kuala-Besut by-election follows the demise of Kuala Besut assemblyman Abdul Rahman Mokhtar last week. Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the EC will hold a special meeting this Friday to discuss the Kuala Besut by-election.
In a statement today, EC secretary, Kamaruddin Mohamed Baria, said a press conference will be held after the meeting to announce the important dates leading up to the by-election.
“EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof will announce the dates of nomination day, the day for early voting and polling day,” he said. ‘Guided democracy’ On another matter, Tengku Adnan dismissed DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s call for EC to resign over the indelible ink fiasco, saying that all EC did was to provide an “eatable ink”.
“They are worried about certain chemical elements of the ink which would give rise to health problem. So they chose the best for the rakyat,” he said. “I already said it before, we don’t need indelible ink because we have identification cards,” he added.
On the upcoming Umno election, he said many division leaders suggested to him that the three vice presidents should also be maintained without contests.
This followed calls from various Umno leaders asking members not to challenge the president and deputy president’s posts to maintain Najib Tun Razak and Muhyiddin Yassin as the top two leaders. When asked whether this is against the principle of democracy, he said Umno believed in “guided democracy”.
“Democratically you are allowed to challenge, but if competitions destroy you, why do you have to do it? After the GE, we just want to strengthen the party,” he said.
