PUTRAJAYA, 8 Dec 2008: The Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council meeting tomorrow will focus on the strategies and preparation for the 17 Jan 2009 Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election, BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today.
“One of the strategies is to increase the 628-vote majority the BN candidate achieved in the general election this year,” he told reporters after witnessing an Aidil Adha sacrificial slaughter ceremony for the Putrajaya parliamentary constituency.
Tengku Adnan is the Member of Parliament for Putrajaya.
“We will also have a strategy to ensure that the election workers focus on the by-election and do not take advantage of the opportunity to garner support for themselves for the Umno elections (set for March next year),” he said.
The by-election was necessitated by the death of Datuk Razali Ismail, who was deputy education minister, on 28 Nov.
In 2004, Razali had defeated PAS executive council member Syed Azman Syed Ahmad by 1,933 votes.
In the 8 March general election this year, Razali won by 628 votes when he knocked out PAS strongman Mohamad Sabu and 89-year-old Maimun Yusuf in a three-way fight. He secured 32,562 votes to Mohamad Sabu’s 31,934 and Maimun’s 685.
Asked who was likely to be the BN candidate for the by-election, Tengku Adnan said Prime Minister and BN chairperson Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would make the announcement soon.
On another matter, he said all developers engaged in projects in Putrajaya would be called for a special discussion about hill slope development to avert disasters similar to last Saturday’s landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa in Hulu Klang. — Bernama
