I agree with Bersih that former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had contravened the election laws with his FaceBook appeal this morning to the Sungai Kandis by-election voters to vote for the UMNO by-election candidate, Lokman Adam.
Under Section 26 (1) (a) of the Election Offences Act 1954, no person shall give any form of address, public or otherwise, on polling day, while Section 26 (1)(f) says that no person will canvass for votes by “whatever means.”
Will Najib be charged in court for violation of the election laws?
This will be a test of the integrity, efficacy and purpose of the election laws in the country.
Many important questions will be answered by the result of the Sungai Kandis by-election.
One of this is whether the UMNO candidate for Sungai Kandis, Lokman Adam will get more or less than the combined votes of 19,091 votes which UMNO/PAS candidates totalled in the 14GE?
Najib’s violation of the election laws in his last-minute appeal to the voters of Sungai Kandis to vote for Lukman is an indication of the desperation of Najib, who hoped that the Sungai Kandis by-election will give him a new lease of life and the warranty and justification to launch a no-holds barred campaign of the most reckless, irresponsible, vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in the history of Malaysia.
UMNO hoped to team up with PAS in this politics for the desperadoes, and although the PAS leadership seemed to have given the green light for such a UMNO-PAS partnership, the question is what percentage of PAS membership will blindly support such a UMNO-PAS partnership to restore Najib to the position of Prime Minister.
Yesterday, the BN and UMNO Deputy President Datuk Mohamad Hassan said Barisan Nasional will give way for PAS to contest in the Seri Setia by-election.
This is a poisoned chalice, as in the 14GE, the Barisan Nasional candidate won 9,878 votes while the PAS candidate secured 4,563 votes against the winning Pakatan Harapan/PKR candidate who polled 29,250, winning with a majority of 19,372.
Will PAS drink the poisoned chalice offered by UMNO?
(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang on Saturday, 4th August 2018)