Saturday's by-election at Kuala Berang in Terengganu has prompted the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition to deploy the 'free' posters it received from a shadowy company called Elegant Advisory.

BN posters provided by the company - which has since 'absconded' after allegedly failing to settle debts of up to RM100 million - have surfaced in all parts of the Kuala Berang state constituency.

Last month, malaysiakini in an exclusive report disclosed that a group of suppliers - which provided posters, badges, banners and caps to BN through Elegant Advisory during the March general election - had claimed the ruling coalition owes them about RM100 million for the goods.

The suppliers said they had struck a deal with Elegant Advisory, which had claimed to have secured a 'lucrative' government contract to produce the campaign paraphernalia.

However, Elegant Advisory did not pay the suppliers despite the poll campaign materials being delivered to all BN campaign offices nationwide.

BN leaders have since denied any links to the company.

However, a check on the ruling coalition's election campaign materials in the Kuala Berang constituency revealed they were mostly supplied by Elegant Advisory. Printed on the posters were the company's name and its registration number.

Among them are posters depicting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, which carried the slogan 'Vote for BN', while others display the BN's distinctive 'dacing' logo.

The Elegant Advisory's posters could be spotted along the main streets of major villages in Ulu Kuala Berang, the key part of the state constituency.

Ulu Kuala Berang's Kampung Cepoh and Kampung Nasi Dingin are the epicentres of the poster war which has erupted between BN and opposition party PAS since the by-election was called.

A further check by malaysiakini indicated that aside from Elegant Advisory - which provided the bulk of the BN posters - the rest were supplied by another Kuala Lumpur-based company, Giant Label. It is not clear whether these too, were also provided 'free' to BN.

Company flees

Elegant Advisory is owned by a little known individual called Hasan Ayuob.

According to the suppliers who had worked with Hasan's company, he was said to be backed by an 'influential' Umno politician who had been tasked to raise funds from BN-linked tycoons and companies for the March 21 polls.

Following the malaysiakini reports on issue, BN leaders such as Umno secretary-general Radzi Sheikh Ahmad and People's Progressive Party chairperson M Kayveas denied the coalition's involvement in the multi-million ringgit scandal.

Radzi said that: 'BN had never made any order from them (suppliers).' The polls merchandise included plastic banners, T-shirts, caps, mineral water, button badges, lapel pins, key chains, lighters and pens.

He claimed that ' ... there were certain people who took advantage of the general elections and abused the name of the BN'.

Two weeks after malaysiakini reported the scandal, Elegant Advisory abandoned its shoe-box office located in Setapak, about 5km north of Kuala Lumpur.

Poster war twist

Meanwhile, there is an additional twist to the poster war in Kuala Berang. Apparently, the war is not limited to just between BN's Umno and its rival, PAS.

There is also a poster war between the various Umno divisions which have come from all over the country to campaign in the by-election.

These banners specifically identified the name of Umno - or Umno Youth - divisions which they come from, a rare practice in previous elections. This usual jockeying for attention among the divisions could be linked to the party polls next month.

There is also a large banner at a main junction in town which warns university students from being involved in the election campaign.

The banner, put up by the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), reads: 'You are hereby reminded that involvement in any political campaign is an offence in accordance to the university's discipline of students rules (1984)'.

Student activists in IIUA are believed to have shown sympathy to PAS in the past..

BN's Mohd Zawawi Ismail is facing PAS' Muhyidin Abdul Rashid in the Aug 28 by-election, the first by-election since the March 21 polls.

Mohd Zawawi, who is from Umno, is a first-time candidate while Muhyidin is a former Hulu Terengganu member of parliament, whose parliamentary seat encompasses Kuala Berang.

The state seat fell vacant following the death of Komaruddin Abd Rahman last month.