Observers not invited to Malaysian polls
Observers not invited to Malaysian polls
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia's Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi yesterday said no foreign observers would be invited to monitor general elections as there was no need.
"The election is not something new to the country that requires foreign monitoring," Abdullah was reported saying by Bernama news agency in Butterworth, in the northern state of Penang.
"Therefore, we are not inviting anyone outside to observe the elections," Abdullah said.
For the 1990 general elections, the government invited Commonwealth observers to monitor "every aspect of the organization and conduct" of the polls to ensure they were "free and fair."
Some 9.01 million people out of the 18 million population are eligible to vote.
Voting in the ninth general elections for an expanded 192 seats in parliament and 394 seats in 11 of the 13 state legislatures is set for April 25 in peninsular Malaysia, and April 24 and 25 in eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak.
Nomination of candidates is fixed for Wednesday.
Malaysian opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, who had disputed the nine-day campaigning period as unfair, said he feared the upcoming polls would be "unfair, unfree and unclean."
Lim charged that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's National Front leaders have been hogging all print and electronic media, while opposition leaders were deprived of such access.
Meanwhile, Malaysian politicians from the ruling National Front coalition and opposition have begun campaigning for the country's snap polls this month.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad flew to key Penang state yesterday for a dinner attended by 12,000 people as part of his unofficial election campaign while his cabinet ministers traveled to other parts of the country for similar events.
Poster wars have started all over the country as political parties try to outdo each other with fancy billboards. The ruling National Front has even ordered 65 helium balloons emblazoned with the scales symbol for its campaign.
The states of Sarawak and Sabah go to the polls on April 24 and 25 while the others go to the ballot box on April 25.
Political and economic analysts say Mahathir's coalition should get a landslide win against a divided opposition and with his country experiencing unprecedented prosperity.
"We want to continue the country's development," Mahathir told reporters on Saturday.
From Penang, state Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon appeared over national television yesterday morning to give details of the state's growth before whisking off for a walkabout in the state capital, Georgetown.
"The people must know that peace, stability and progress cannot be taken for granted. This was achieved by proper planning and the support of the people," he told Reuters.
Koh's schedule is tightly packed until polling day with meet- the-people sessions to support other coalition candidates and walkabouts in his own constituency.
While most politicians will stick to conventional means of campaigning, Buddhist monk Suk Yi told reporters he will stay in a graveyard as part of his campaign.
Suk Yi, who wants to fight Malaysian Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik in west coast Perak state, said the graveyard stint was to prove his spiritual goodness.
"I want to show that even spirits cannot disturb me in the graveyard," he was quoted as saying in a vernacular tabloid.