BN will pump millions into Kajang by-election, Anwar says in BFM interview

The Malaysian Insider, February 13, 2014

Even if it does not field a candidate in the Kajang by-election, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pic) believes the Barisan Nasional will pump millions of ringgit by supporting an independent candidate.

The Opposition leader said this in a 35-minute interview with local business radio station BFM that was not allowed to hit the airwaves yesterday.

In the interview, Anwar said BN had done this in the past and gave the Penanti by-election in Penang as an example.

In that 2009 by-election, BN decided not to contest after PKR’s Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin resigned as assemblyman. PKR was involved in a four-cornered fight with three independent candidates, and it retained the seat. He said BN had thrown its support behind one of the candidates.

The BN is said to be mulling the possibility off not contesting the Kajang seat saying, "It is a waste of public funds".

PR has agreed to field Anwar to reclaim the seat vacated after incumbent Lee Chin Cheh resigned last month in what has been labelled as the “Kajang Move”.

BN has yet to name a candidate for the seat, traditionally a MCA seat.

In the interview, Anwar said it was not right to accuse him of campaigning early for the seat and pointed out that both Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan had gone down to the ground and campaigned, but under the pretext of carrying out price checks.

Anwar also touched on the Allah issue where he told listeners that the Pakatan stand on the matter had been clear.

“Our position in Pakatan is that it is the right of all Malaysians, including Christians, to use the word 'Allah'," he said, referring to the stand taken by the Opposition pact in 2010.

"Of course, it isn’t covered by the mainstream media and we and PAS have faced the brunt of it because they use this to hammer us. Did we withdraw? No, we have always been consistent."

Anwar's interview was not allowed to hit the airwaves yesterday, and this was not the first time that BFM has been barred from airing interviews.

It has been called up for some of its programming by its regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) which vets all programming.

BFM is a radio station based in Bandar Utama, Selangor, and broadcasts in a spectrum that is also received in parts of Negeri Sembilan and Malacca. - February 13, 2014.