To Whom It May Concern

The banner that says 'Do you wait for a by election then only you overcome the people's problem'

The section of the road is covered with some plastic sheet.


Both ends of the road are designated as no entry but those living along the road still use it non the less. What choice have they?

On a biking ride around Pasir Mas 2 days ago I was curious to find out how bad was the part section of the road along the Kelantan River bank that caved in several months ago. I have not used that road ever since the cave in since that road was made a no entry to all vehicles. This road was a favorite for those who want to escape the jam in town during a holiday.
When I came to the section I saw the above banner that reflects the feeling of those people living along that stretch of road. Yes the helplessness of it as no remedial work was done to rebuild that section of the road to make it reusable again or at least prevent further cave in when the monsoon comes again at the end of the year.
I will not dwell on the cause of the cave in. some says it was due to the extensive sand mining going on along the length of the Kelantan river while others say the substandard work on the interlocking steel piling could be the cause. For those who doesn't know, along the length of the river, interlocking steel piles were driven into the soil and the top was set in concrete to prevent erosion to the river bank during the monsoon season. Such causes are mere speculation as no such report has been made public.
The message in Bahasa Melayu was subtle and was meant for the people in authority to do something. No specific authority was mentioned be it the local authority, the State Government or the Federal Government. From the wordings I guess anyone will do as long as it gets done. It seems that a by election is the best thing to happen as immediate allocation and approval seems to be available as happened previously in the country's recent history. A case in mind is the Sibu by election whereby more than RM37 million was promised and partly disbursed. Well it maybe a different scenario here as the one in Sibu was purported to be allocated far in advance before the by election. Maybe the authorities that be has the foresight that a by election was pending.
I guess a similar allocation should be made available for this constituency be it by the State or Federal as the people along this stretch of road must have been praying for a by election to occur as soon as possible by whatever means. Short of saying that divine intervention as most welcome, a resignation by one of the two representative be it the state or the parliament will do as fine.
Thank God no life was lost in the mishap. Must we wait for lives to be lost before something is done?

IBRAHIM ALI BEING ASKED TO RESIGN

A small group of PAS protestors held a peaceful protest against YB Ibrahim Ali the MP for Pasir Mas. They had helped Ibrahim win the seat against UMNO in the last GE and now they want him to to back off if he were to do the froggie again. The protest was held immediately after the Friday prayers within the Mekasar Mosque compound. After a short speech by the Ketua Pemuda Pas Pasir Mas and some takbir of Allah hu Akbar, they left for home without any incidence.

The crowd could have been bigger if more people knew about the intended protest bust since not many knew, they did not stay back to make up a bigger crowd. Somehow the police knew about it and make their presence felt with two patrol cars an an unknown number of plain clothes personnel.

12th General Election - The Final Post

This is my final post about the 12th General Election. We all know the result and further discussions are of course available on the political blogs. I will continue to post my comments there as right from the very beginning I wanted to refrain from turning this site into a political one.
The need to inform readers about the goings on in Pasir Mas made me change my mind to temporarily use this site to disseminate informations about the GE in my beloved Pasir Mas. If I succeed in making you all happy and informed, then my mission is a success. It was impossible for me to be impartial as the pent up feeling in me of the injustices done was too much for me to hold back. To those whom I may have offended, I tender my sincerest unreserved apology.
Ahead of us is uncharted territory. Kelantan is the only state that has experienced changes in government on regular basis with about 18 to 20 years as the normal cycle. The trend is bucked this once. It is OK for Kelantan as we know we are in good hands. No one could say for sure about the other new states like the rich Selangor whose wealth itself can be a cause for concern. it is only too easy for someone to lose their level thinking at the sight of instant wealth. Not many can withhold the desire to be instant millionaires given the opportunity.
There is hope of course to go the straight path if we allow ourselves to be guided by sincere group of people in the form of Ombudsman which should immediately be formed. Let us show the Federal Government how to run a state using good governance as a tool to keep the country running and make the people happy.
When PAS took over Kelantan in 1990, they inherit the same staff from the previous Government. After sometimes, their mindset was changed to the same tune as the Government of the day. This was achieved by none other than the adage of leadership by example. If the leaders are perceived to be clean and examplary, the rest of the government servants will just follow suit. Humility is never a bad trait in a leader, it will endear him more to the rakyat.
With this post, I would like to close this chapter on the General Election in Pasir Mas and Kelantan in general. Thank you all for bearing with me.

Kelantan Is Saved

Unofficial Result. PAS won 31 seats and retains Kelantan, Allahu Akbar.

When the election result was streaming in, I was looking in disbelief at the Malaysiakini unofficial result that PAS had already won 31 seats in Kelantan and Penang was already in the hand of DAP. My ex teacher from the Pasir Mas school days and now residing in Johor called me to congratulate me on the success of the incumbent state government to retain Kelantan with an even bigger majority. He knew that I was supportive of this government even though I was a member of the other party opposed to it. I could guess his happiness at having heard that DAP has taken over from Gerakan in Penang. Congratulating him on that and throw him a caution that the DAP must not neglect the Malays of Penang. He assured me that the DAP won't neglect them. It will be detrimental to the whole intention of bringing the BN government if the DAP choose to be another UMNO which they had been unhappy with all these while. The DAP being similarly race based is still looked upon with suspicion by the Malays. It will be detrimental in the long run if DAP doesn't improve its image as multi racial party like the PKR is.

Today 9th March 2008, the mood among the supporters of the current state government is in a state of euphoria. Who would have thought that PAS would be returned with such an overwhelming majority, 39 to 6 for BN?
In my post on nomination day I made the following prediction:

CURRENT PREDICTION FOR THE STATE
PAS - 33
BN - 10

I can't predict the other two seats.
Well, I wasn't far off wasn't I? The prediction was made on nomination day and based on gut feeling.
So what next? It is time to walk the talk. Those who have found power must walk the talk. State like Penang which be governed by the DAP for the first time must tread carefully lest they maybe accused of the same thing that of favouring a specific race and thus damage once and for all the good faith that were accorded to them.
Time for me to grab some sleep.
Thank you God.

12th General Election - Pasir Mas 8th March 2008

D DAY

Rain started to fall as early as 7.30 am in Pasir Mas. An hour later it abated somewhat and I went to the polling center at the school near my home. Is the rain a 'hujan rahmat' or is it a way of Allah trying to tell us about something bad being done on his 'ummat'. Naahh who would believe such a thing possible.
On the way to the center I saw this banner.
Untuk mengundi kena lafaz niat ke?
The scene at the entrance to the voting center.


I registered to vote at the SPR table where about 6 personnel sitting at some tables with laptops hooked up to the internet. I got my chit indicating my stream and my serial number written on it.

The queue at stream two where I was to cast my vote was too long so I loiter around without casting may vote. I went out of the school compound and took some pictures of those party workers. After that I went home to check my blogsite.

The long queue at Saluran 2.

My son who had voted earlier told me to watch out that those people issuing the ballot paper will be writing my serial number on the ballot paper which will render my privacy absolute. If the serial number in my case 601 is written on my ballot paper then people will know whose ballot that is. This is the catch that they are doing on the voters. They do away with the printed serial number but they write the serial number on the ballot paper. So what is so difficult to check who vote for whom? Who says your privacy is guaranteed? LIARS.

When I finish this post I am going to go and vote and try to protest them from writing my serial number on the ballot paper and let us see how they will react. If they insist that they must write the number then I may have to opt not to vote or just merely submit a blank ballot paper. I am writing this BEFORE I cast my vote.

Meanwhile a neighbour told me that he received informations at the Kelar voting center that 200 unknown voters had casted their vote there. The way they are doing it, Kelantan may have a new government by tomorrow he said. I hope this isn't true.
Last night there was news about my old classmate being struck by someone from another party. My classmate was sent to the Pasir Mas hospital for treatment and the BN candidate Hanafi Mamat was shown visiting him at the ward. The attacker was made out to be from an opposition party. That was a blatant lie. What actually happened was my classmate negated on his earlier promise to pay his party worker for putting up his banner. He didn't pay the promised RM20 and instead paid the worker RM5. That incenced him so much that he went to look for my ex classmate and struck him with a piece of wood. The unfortunate thing was that this worker came in a car with the flag of PAS and thus the blame was put on the party.
Now I am going to cast my vote.
I will continue this post after I come back.
The time now is 11.55 am.

2 PM.

Just came back from casting my votes. The stream that I was allocated had a long queue and took me more than an hour to do it. On the way in I enquired from a party worker who informed me that they had lodged a protest with SPR about the writing of the serial number on the ballot papers. When my turn came they didnt write anything on my ballot papers so I can't have definite proof of the allegation of writing the serial number on the ballot paper.

While waiting for my turn I met my classmate and enquired about the incident. He jokingly told me that some budak-budak were playing with some wood and the wood hit him. Poor bloke hahahaha. Anyway it was irresponsible reporting by the TV media to put the blame on the party.

There was an incident at my polling station whereby a voter from KL found his name being marked as to have his ballot casted even though he hadn't. How could this have happened? I think a police report was made by one of the parties involved in the election.

My friend Tuan Haji Azmy Omar send me these pictures from his voting center at Sekolah Dato' Abduk Hamid 2 somewhere in town where he voted.

Tuan Haji Ibrahim Hussin standing in line to cast his vote.

The people on duty at the voting center. Those in yellow are the SPR staff. Dont mistake them for Bersih's members.

Below are some friends found by Tuan Haji Azmi at the center.

It is 6.00 PM now. The voting centre was closed an hour ago. The PAS side were confident of winning more votes for the KASA area while The BN people were confident of winning the State of Kelantan and form the next state government. Maybe they know something that the others like us don't know?

My neighbour was confident the BN were up to something and will be able to topple the current government in Kelantan. I guess they do since they have SPR to help them.

Run Up To 12th GE Pasir Mas, DUN Chetok - 7th March

Lunacy is a Kelantanese in Sabah. He longed to see the goings on in his Kampung Galok which is next to my kampong of Chekok in the Chetok constituency. Chetok is one of the state constituencies under the Parliamentary constituency of Pasir Mas.
DUN Chetok is a straight fight between Dato' Ab. Rahim Abdul Rahman of BN against the incumbent Ustaz Halim Abdul Rahman of PAS. Ustaz Halim isn't expected to face any problem against this challenge as he had been serving the constituency very well the way the people there want him to be. He is very close with the people on the ground and will not discriminate those who didn't vote for him.
I went over to Galok just before the Jumaat prayers and performed mine at Masjid Hujung Galok which is still under construction. The construction of this mosque is solely based on donation and thus takes a long time to complete.
The Imam directly exhort those who attended the prayers to vote PAS as it is considered the only party that adheres to the Islamic laws. I find the way he does it as too crude and may not be attractive to those who regard politics as seperate from religion.
It was raining most of the time so the photos didn't turn out well.

If only they would accept contribution from the Federal government, this mosque would be ready in no time especially during such election tme.
They are so creative.

Guess which party are they referring to.

The junction to Tok Uban in Chetok.

This poster is a cheeky one I found near the moslem cemetery in Chekok

During Pak Lah's time the people are asthmatic

How high is high enough?

In the evening I went out again to take some pictures of posters that I have misssed. Most are self explanatory.

The above picture showed the level crossing in town. During festive holidays this crossing create massive traffic jam in town. Both parties promised to construct an overhead pass to fascilitate crossing during the recent Pengkalan Pasir by election. Since PAS won, the party started the construction work this year and scheduled to be completed next year (2009).

Incase they are accused of not keeping to their promise, they put up a large signboard saying that they have started working on it on the other side of the railway track.

Reverse psychology.

Colorful flags.

This is their promise.

The Kelantanese from outstation are arriving.

My neighbour Dato' Abdul Fatah Haron contesting in Bukit Tuku State seat.

Run Up To GE 12 Pasir Mas 6th March 2008

Yesterday 5th March 2008 The Barisan Nasional Party (Read UMNO) had another gathering of youth on motorbikes. The same venue was used as the first time they had this kind of gathering on the 23rd of February to announce their candidate for the election.


The number of attendees today seems to be much bigger. Beside bikers they allow trishaws to join in the gathering too. Since this event was organized by the youth wing, most who attended are also youth. Personally I doubt that they are all UMNO youth as the lure of a free T shirt and RM10 petrol money must have attracted everyone else too be they fence sitters or even opposition inclined youth. All you need to be to qualify is to have a motorbike which are mostly the kapcais. Trishaws will do too. The petrol money is doubled the previous amount of RM5. The T shirt is a white one with the picture of Haji Ahmad Rosdi on the front. That should help Ahmad Rosdi to be recognized beside his posters portraying his face all over Pasir Mas now. I doubt that they would be wearing the T shirt much after today since he doesn't look as pretty as Maya Karin or the now married Datuk Siti.


After some boring speeches by the contestants exhorting the youth to support their candidates in the coming election. The crowd was asked to rev up their engines to make a din as a sign of support. Not much din was created by such small machines.

Most of the candidates were there except for Datuk Rahim.

Immediately after the speeches Ahmad Rosdi left in his gleaming black Sangyong SUV to probably another function. The bikers too started leaving the school compound where they collect their RM10 petrol money at the exit gate. Pillion riders collect the same amout too. From there they were instructed to ride in convoy to Pasir Mas town about 5 km away making a din and a nuisance that may have cost their candidates a few votes as their behaviour is exactly similar to mat rempits. The blue flags with the BN logo draped over their white shirts with AR's face on it easily identified them to the party responsibled for this ruckus. This clearly showed how silly some leaders to be can be sometimes. Instead of endearing people to them, they are doing the direct opposite.

Other functions usually attended by these BN candidates were Parent Teachers Association meetings which seemed to be held around this election period. There was clear instruction that the PTA's are not to be used as a platform for election campaign. But if you are in power, who cares?

Later in the evening PAS had a ceramah about 2 kilometers from my home. A large crowd was anticipated. It turned out to be a tame event as the crowd puller Datuk Ibrahim Ali was not able to attend. Many left immediately when his representative took to the rostrum to make a speech on his behalf. The other candidates couldnt hold the dwindling crowd to remain till the end of the ceramah. Compared to the politicians of old, the present crop of politicians doesn't seem to be able to possess sufficient skill in public speaking.

All the candidates on both sides are moslems but non seems to be using the mosques as a point to meet the voters. Why don't they joing the congregation performing the five daily prayers and at the end of the prayers shake as many hands as possible and plead for their votes. Make it a point to pray at different mosques for each prayer. Thats the best way to reach out to some of the voters.

Here are some pictures of the above events and some banners which was recently put up which I found to be amusing.

All sort of banners were displayed including political ones.

A Post in Pasir Mas town.

An Islamic Pawn shop next to a PAS post


One Chinese village support BN while the other village next to it support PAS

Datuk Rahim's company develop this property


Can you see the armoured vehicle?


Collecting petrol money at the exit of the school compound.


Can you read the message?

Below is the response to TGNA's reference to orang utan

A few surprises maybe in store for Gua Musang. Tengku Razaleigh may just scrape through with a reduced majority. Paloh will be safe in BN's hand but Galas may fall to PAS for the first time. Dabong is suspect. All the teachers sent to Gua Musang as punishment for being suspected as PAS symphatizers had really gone all out to change the mind of the people where they are located. Even the orang asli who were sure votes for BN will be voting opposition for a change. Who says election in Gua Musang is dull?
The prediction for Kuala Krai.
Parliament Kuala Krai - PAS
DUN Mengkebang - BN
DUN Manek Urai - PAS
DUN Guchil - PAS
DUN Dabong 50:50 If the 'cah keting' among BN occurs it will tilt to PAS.