Teoh Beng Hock's sister detained

Police today detained Teoh Lee Lan, the sister of the late political aide, Teoh Beng Hock for allegedly distributing pamphlets on her brother's death and campaigning in Kampung Baru.

She was taken to the Gua Musang district police station along with Beng Hock's brother-in-law, Soh Cher Hai and two others from the group, Malaysians for Beng Hock.

The group was in Gua Musang over the last two days to lobby for a royal commission to be set up to investigate Beng Hock's death.

According to Superintendent Maszely Minhad, the police had received complaints that the group were allegedly participating in campaigning activities in contravention of Section 4A (1) of the Election Offences Act.

It is learnt that the four are expected to be released after having their statements recorded.

Maslan's dare to Pas

In a visit to the NSTP media centre today, Datuk Ahmad Maslan, the Umno Information chief had a clear message to convey to the public, and a dare to Pas too. He came prepared with a list of projects that the government had allotted for the Kelantan people, saying that 13 out of 14 projects listed are already completed.

While it has been a norm for Pas to question what has the BN government done elsewhere in Malaysia, he pointed out that in Kelantan, Pas is the government. So he wants to know where is Pas' list of development that has been completed for Kelantan in the past 20 years. A valid point there.

Pas is now switching strategy to use the 'spiritual' aspect in human development, stating that is also a development nonetheless. Well, it's up to the people to decide.

For the full story, get NST in print tomorrow...:-)

Kelantan creates history

The Red Warriors created history tonight when they defeated Negri Sembilan in a thrilling Malaysia Cup final that had spectators on the edge of their seats the entire game.

Kelantan beat Negri Sembilan 2-1 at the National Stadium Bukit Jalil to hoist the Malaysia Cup for the first time.

The victory is celebrated by Kelantan football fans, while the ongoing Galas by-election took a back seat today as fans in the state focused on the match up.

In addition to the win, tomorrow will be a public holiday for Kelantan to celebrate the long-awaited victory and rest before resuming work on Monday.

Postal voting starts today

NSTpix by Fathil Asri

Postal voting for the N45 Galas state seat kicked off today with 50 Election Commission workers casting their ballots at the Gua Musang Land and District Office here.

The remaining 127, who are policemen on duty during the by-election would vote tomorrow at the Gua Musang district police headquarters.

Postal voting will be from 9am - 5pm on the two days.

According to EC deputy secretary, Datuk Noordin Che Ngah, the postal votes would be stored in the strong room at the district office's operation room which would be guarded by policemen.

He also dismissed Pas's allegations of phantom voters.

Students released after statements taken

Police today recorded statements from four university students who were detained for several hours yesterday for allegedly distributing political pamphlets in the Galas state constituency.

Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the students, aged between 18 - 25 years old were taken to the district police station and released soon after.

"We are investigating if the students are from Gua Musang or outsiders," he said after a briefing at the police operations centre here.

He said they would also work with the Election Commission and the students' universities during their investigations.

The students are from a group, calling themselves Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam SeMalaysia (Gamis) and were allegedly distributing brochures urging the locals to exercise their democratic right to vote.

A spokesman yesterday said the group represented students from various universities and had come to Galas to observe the campaign process and also explain to the people certain national issues, including the 2011 budget and how it effects them.

Higher Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the detention of the students should not be politicised as they were merely detained for not possessing a valid permit to distribute the pamphlets.

"The students were not aligned to any political party and were merely there to urge the people to come out and vote. They are acting on their own and nothing to do with their respective universities.

"However, I would like to advise these students to go home and concentrate on their studies instead," he said when contacted.

On another issue, Ismail also said the police had to date received four reports on minor incidents involving the parties contesting the by-election here.

"I urge all parties to adhere to the laws and prevent any untoward incidents," he added.

50-50 chance for BN-Pas in Galas

A couple of days ago, we were visited by BN candidate, Abdul Aziz Yusoff at our NSTP media centre in Goa Inn.

Looking a little bit tired after the numerous visits to meet the Galas folks, he said he was nonetheless happy that he got to meet the people on a one-to-one basis that adds a personal touch to the meetings. As yet, the BN machineries have only managed to penetrate about 20pc of the Galas people and still trying their best as many as they can within the campaigning period which is about to end in a few days.

When asked if BN can win, he said the chances now stand at 50-50 probability of win or lose. He however mentioned that the acceptance looked and sounded much better than the 2008 election.

The campaigns so far have been low-keyed and peacefully held at the respective venues, with politicians and party leaders attending the mini gatherings to meet and lend support to the campaign machineries. Posters, on the other hand, have been used as a 'silent war zone' between each party, sometimes provoking a smile for the onlookers.

He then left not long after that to meet the machineries at the BN operations centre.

Outstation voters a concern for Pas

Kelantan Menteri Besar, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat is expected to meet outstation voters from the Galas state constituency in the Klang Valley tomorrow to appeal to them to return to the constituency to cast their vote on polling day.

He is expected to also introduce Pas candidate for the N45 state seat, Dr Zulkefli Mohamed and also discuss transportation arrangements for the voters.

More than 300 of the 1,557 outstation voters are from the Klang Valley and are vital to both the Barisan Nasional and Pas during the by-election.

It is learnt that the party has also set aside an amount to reimburse all outstation voters who return to vote on Nov 4.

"This is certainly not vote buying and merely reimbursing them for what they have spent," said a Pas leader.