Kelantan to “embrace” Hadhari if BN wins

The Barisan Nasional’s promise to the people of Kelantan if it wins over the state is a RM24 million Hadhari Centre in Pasir Puteh to house a mosque, a hostel, lecture rooms, an ICT centre, reading rooms and importantly, all surrounded by beautiful landscaping. So said the main news over Radio 24 at 1.00pm on 28 February.

Apparently the federal government has approved the allocation, which will be put in use if and when the BN took over the state from PAS. This is of course in addition to the RM1 billion grant it promises Kelantan - up from the current RM400 million - from the federal government.

What are these pledges based on? Who approved the budget for this new Hadhari centre and the RM1 billion grant? If the federal coffers are indeed healthy, why not channel the money before this to ensure poverty and other problems are tackled? A typical case of punishing the people who vote the opposition.

A small community off the main road in Sungai Chedu in Banting has seen such play in front of their houses. The incumbent state assemblyman from MCA has been ordering contractors to tar the roads in in front of their houses, but the tar stops exactly where the owner or occupant has gone public to complain about the incompetence of the representative in solving a stinking problem: a dumpsite barely 200 metres away from their homes.

Stories like this abound. You support us, you get good roads and phone and electricity lines. If you're in the wrong party or even religion, you don't get it. This is how taxpayers money is used to play a reward-and-punish game, one that people should be aware of. Today's little tar road could translate into a big tolled highway project tomorrow and you will be the one evicted.

Radio 24 continued with a story from a district where Pas had been in control since 2004 and where apparently the people, that is Umno members, have been denied the right to use public spaces to gather and carry out activities. The local district education officer had reportedly instructed a school to offer space to the people. The three-minute story reported on Mohd Nor Othman from Umno, a teacher, who will be contesting the Hulu Terengganu parliamentary seat because of his popularity in “helping the people”. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, not a single comment from Pas, accused of neglecting the constituents.

BN candidates jostling for space in Utusan

The 27 February edition of the Utusan saw an increase in election coverage in the first 14 pages of the Dalam Negeri section. This means a surge of news on BN while the opposition news remains below 20 per cent of the total election coverage. The increase can be attributed to the paper's attempt to cover as many BN contestants as possible in a positive light.

While the first two pages were allocated to the Umno president and vice president - also the incumbent prime minister and deputy prime minister respectively - other pages were filled with mostly BN candidates from across Malaysia, whether in articles or photo montages. This even spilled over to the City section Utusan Kota, where the contestant for Puchong, Lau Yeng Peng was reported to have announced the government's plan to ease traffic congestion of the area. This certainly put him in a good light.