PETALING JAYA, July 24 – Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders disagreed today that PAS’s defeat in Kuala Besut indicates a decline in support for the federal opposition pact, even maintaining that it was Barisan Nasional’s (BN) handouts that had helped them bag the victory.

PKR’s Batu MP Chua Tian Chang (picture) pointed out that in any by-election, BN always had the upper hand and Kuala Besut, he said, was no exception.

“It won’t be a setback,” he said to The Malay Mail Online when contacted here.

“This will only strengthen our determination... the struggle of our fight is not in this by-election but a total change everywhere for a more responsible government,” he added.

DAP’s Seremban MP Anthony Loke agreed with this sentiment, saying that BN had been so desperate to reclaim Kuala Besut that it had been a struggle and an uphill battle for PR.

“They (BN) are misusing resources of the federal government at their whims and fancies by promising hundreds of millions of allocations to buy the support of the voters,” he said.

“In any by-election, the ruling party will always have the advantage over opposition especially in rural constituencies,” he added.

PAS had accused the ruling coalition yesterday of pledging a total of RM467.12 million in its 12-day campaign for Kuala Besut, claiming that this was possibly the most ever spent on a by-election.

“The grand total that we have counted up until this moment reached RM476.19 million. With a total of 17,683 voters, we announce that the value of each ballot for N.01 Kuala Besut reached RM27,000,” PAS’s Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad had told reporters at a press conference.

“This puts the by-election in the 13th parliamentary session among the costliest in history.”

On Monday, Bersih announced that the pledges made so far in Kuala Besut meant that about RM19,000 will be spent for each registered voter in the state seat.

“Up to last Saturday, as compiled by PAS from media reports, financial promises and allocations by federal and state agencies for the Kuala Besut area have totalled at least RM337,490,750,” the watchdog said in a statement.

Among the projects announced so far are a RM250 million river dredging project to desilt the estuary of Sungai Besut, a 2km breakwater along the coast, and a RM35 million project to fix the busted Lowvier dam in Pengkalan Nangka here.

On July 17, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had launched 72 units of low-cost housing in Kampung Lay Out, Tok Saboh here costing more than RM10 million. Another 200 units of low-cost housing project worth RM28 million was also announced in Pulau Perhentian.

On Monday, Health Minister Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam launched two Klinik 1Malaysia with a total cost of RM39 million, while Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said announced a 500-unit low-cost housing in Kuala Besut worth RM22.5 million.

When contacted tonight, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad said PR’s defeat would not greatly impact the federal opposition as they have been through much worse in the past.

In the final results affirmed by the Election Commission (EC) at the Besut District Council here, BN’s Tengku Zaihan beat PAS’s Azlan Yusof with a 2,592-vote majority when he polled 8,288 votes to his contender’s 5,696 votes.