It's just a spontaneous reaction, says Tengku Zaihan

Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abdul Rahman said he publicly displayed his ballot paper during polling for the Kuala Besut by-election yesterday as a spontaneous reaction due to cajoling from press photographers. Tengku Zaihan, 37, or fondly known as 'Abe Ku' by local residents, said he had no intention of showing the ballot paper as he was rather tired after 12 days of campaigning. "You know, I did not get enough sleep for the past 12 days, I was tired. Maybe that's the reason why I reacted spontaneously. "I was about to fold the ballot paper and insert it into the ballot box when photographers called my name relentlessly and I unintentionally showed the ballot paper in response to pestering from them," he told Bernama here today. The Election Commission (EC) has described Tengku Zaihan's action in publicly displaying his ballot paper during polling at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kuala Besut yesterday as inappropriate as it violated the election procedures. Tengku Zaihan, 37, a civil engineer with the Drainage and Irrigation Department, Putrajaya, beat PAS' Endot @ Azlan Yusof, 48, with an increased majority of 2,592 votes in the by-election. Thanking the people for keeping the 'blue wave' in Kuala Besut alive, Tengku Zaihan said he might take one or two days break, but would go down the ground if there were pressing needs, particularly to pay respect to the dead. "It was the voters, not me who were the saviour in thwarting the PAS 16:16 agenda. I am glad that young people are also supporting the BN. Maybe they feel that I can relate to them," said Tengku Zaihan. Accompanied by his wife, Siti Salbiah Osman, 34, Tengku Zaihan spent 30 minutes at the farmers' market here this morning before visiting the family of a BN supporter who died of asthma in Kampung Kayu Kelat here. On his duty, Tengku Zaihan said at the outset of his duty, he would pick up where his predecessor Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar left off in terms of development plans and projects, apart from looking into the people's grievances.