Barisan Nasional (BN) trounces PAS by retaining Kuala Besut state seat with a majority of 2,592 votes, polling 8,288 votes against PAS 5,696 votes.
Spoiled votes totaled 125.
BN can now breathe easy with the victory as the ruling coalition retain the state government back to status quo of 17 seats to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) 15 seats.
BN won the seat with a 2,434 votes in the May 5 general election and the increased majority reflected the constituents desire to see Kuala Besut developed into an international tourism centre.
BN started the campaign trail on the right footing when it threw in development projects that benefit the people in every aspect of life, particularly their income in cash when the projects take off the ground from now till five years in the future.
Mild and tame campaign trail in a constituency that has a long history of religious and political enmity between two old foes, BN was also very meticulous in approaching the constituents.
Searching and wooing those lost voters back into the fold was not easy but campaigners of the ruling coalition did it with the one-to-one marking, like the war method in Sun Tzu’s Art of War book.
Twelve days of intense campaigning where all the Umno federal minister and MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai whizzed in and out of every inch of land in the constituency paid off finally.
In fact, Pulau Perhentian Kecil which has just 733 voters was visited by every minister every day with even the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin spending a night.
BN deputy by-election director Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh is a man of the people when during the election campaign has tirelessly been knocking at every door that came his way and kept his house in Jertih opened 24 hours for easy access.
The Education Minister 11 who is the MP for Besut where Kuala Besut is one of the three state constituencies under his parliamentary seat, Idris has kept every bit of information on the voters as priority and attended to their needs day and night.
PAS on the other hand went into the battle field on a wrong footing – wrong commander and ill-equpied in terms of issues and weak machinery.
As Kuala Besut is in Terengganu, PAS had picked a Kelantanese Datuk Husam Musa as the director of election, which obviously did not go down well with the voters who do not know him and, some of Terengganu PAS members and leaders who are against his close association with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
What was supposed to be a Terengganu affair had become a Kelantan affair where majority of the party campaigners who pitched tents were Kelantan PAS members.
Playing second fiddle in their own constituency, Kuala Besut Pas members were not giving their best while the leaders with big names and influence like president Abdul Hadi Awang and other veterans of Terengganu PAS were absent in the campaign trail most times.
Its candidate Azlan Yusof who is a local, popular and well-liked is not saleable as the impression made was that he was Husam’s man, not the Terengganu PAS’ man.
It was the talk of Kuala Besut that Azlan made it as a businessman due to his link to Husam in Kota Baru where most of his businesses are located.
Given such factors, PAS was left far behind early days of the campaign trail and the party only picked up momentum and spread its influence when it stopped selling the candidate and embarked on the 16-16 seats campaign line.
But by that time catching up was hard to do as BN campaigners were already and practically sleeping in some of the voters’ houses or just beside and nearby.
Sumber: Beruang Biru
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