Busier than a bee is the PM-to-be

Zipping from one location to another, Barisan Nasional's second-in-command Najib Abdul Razak is the busiest high-profile politician in Kuala Terengganu.

The premier-to-be has been blazing the by-election campaign trail for the past eight days, leading some to joke that he is working harder than BN candidate Wan Ahmad Farid Salleh.

By convention, the BN deputy chair leads a by-election campaign and the upcoming Jan 17 contest is his sixth and arguably, the most taxing yet.

His cabinet colleagues pale in comparison to the number of activities Najib is participating in to shore up support for the ruling coalition.

After nomination day on Jan 6, he left for Kuala Lumpur to fulfill his federal duties before returning on Friday for a series of campaigning activities until Sunday.

On Monday, he dashed back to Parliament to debate the emergency motion on the Israeli offensive in Gaza and by that evening, he was again on the campaign trail, hopping from one event to another.

The deputy premier's exuberance however has sparked off claims that all might not be well on the BN front.

'He has much too lose'

"Najib may not have much to gain from this by-election but he has much to lose if BN is defeated," said political analyst and Monash University lecturer Wong Chin Huat.

According to Wong, a defeat would spell disaster for Najib and BN as the results would be used to catapult Pakatan Rakyat's Sarawak state election campaign.

"A win however would help Najib cover up problems within BN and he can claim that the opposition has no more momentum," he added

Merdeka Centre programme director Ibrahim Suffian argued that Najib has pulled out all stops in order to prove his mettle.

"He is out to prove that he is an able taskmaster capable of delivering the results. He wants to show that Pak Lah's 2008 general election disaster is over and behind them," he said.

"If he fails, it's not the end of the world. Detractors would say he cannot fix Umno but a loss would give Najib room to undertake radical reforms. A win would allow him to say that the party is on the mend."

Conservative campaign

So far, Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor have been spared personal attacks by the opposition campaigners.

Photographs of submarines and that of murdered Mongolian national Altantunya Shaariibuu, which dotted the landscape of Ijok and Permatang Pauh by-elections, are nearly impossible to find in Kuala Terengganu.

This time around, Najib's biggest adversary appears to be popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin.

During his ceramah rounds, the recently released Internal Security Act detainee has never failed to unleash a slew of unprintable comments and allegations against the 'second couple'.

Najib's arch-nemesis and verbal jousting partner, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, has been largely absent during the campaign so far, leaving those expecting a 'Najib vs Anwar: Round 3' disappointed.

The deputy premier himself has been rather conservative in his campaign message and draws upon the 'bad memories' of PAS' reign of the state from 1999-2004 and BN's promises of economic prosperity.

"This electorate is very split. There is very little room to move," said Merdeka Centre's Ibrahim.

"The politicians are treading cautiously for the marginal votes. Any attack on personalities and ideological issues may alienate voters," he added.

Pakatan Rakyat is also trying to localise its campaign by focusing on the oil royalty controversy and income disparity in the state to influence the swing voters, he noted.