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.