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DEWAN DISPATCHES: Anwar vs the Umno machinery galvanises the House

by: Azmi Anshar
DEWAN RAKYAT Aug 18, 2008

From the political epicentre of the Dewan Rakyat, Permatang Pauh may be hundreds of kilometres up north where the wind whispers in anxious anticipation and the seas flirting with the shore of this now famed constituency hardly chop, but its capacity to invert the political process make MPs pay vivid attention. It could, after all, act as a trigger to rock the House’s 140-82 composition now in favour of the Barisan Nasional should Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim reclaim his domain.

The bluster, froth and bile that have been exchanged for days, if not weeks, in the run-up to the Aug 26 polling day for this parliamentary seat merely cements another grudge match between Pakatan Rakyat and BN for the right to represent that now coddled electorate.

To say that this is a match-up between the PR and the BN is to use a broadsword to slice thin cheese. A surgeon’s scalpel slash into this beast will expose it for what it really is: the acridly epic battle between former Umno poster boy Anwar Ibrahim and his erstwhile party turned mortal enemy, a fight perhaps not to the death but severe enough to induce grown men and women to grovel, beg and weep for precious votes or collapse in political opprobrium if they fail.

The nominal issues have been flogged mercilessly – sodomy, fuel price, crime, graft, dodgy governance, et al – but up front, the violent assault on the New Straits Times’ photographer and his French rescuer after nominations, allegedly by petty thugs masquerading as Parti Keadilan Rakyat supporters, deserves some advanced notice.

At the Parliament lobby, BN chieftains jumped at the chance to totter the PR campaign by lambasting the assumed PKR thuggery, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar (BN-Kota Tinggi) blurting the disgust at its bluntest: "What sort of behaviour is that? I hope the public realise that this is not something that should be condoned.”

Education Minister and Umno Youth Chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (BN-Sembrong) was a few steps back but in tandem, complaining that Umno members were prevented by the opposite side from hanging flags and banners.

PKR vice-president Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) was cautious in his defence, suggesting that brutish thuggery was not in the habit of party members on the strength of an investigation into a previous incident last week: a Guang Ming Daily photographer was assaulted at a PKR ceramah was “not the work of our members”, he insisted.

If it was not PKR members who bashed up the photographers, then who? Azmin had no immediate alternative culprits but vented that the BN’s finger pointing was premature. "We should not be blamed first. An investigation had to be conducted to ascertain whether the perpetrators are our members. But stern action will be taken if our members are involved," he warned.

What Azmin did exult was the supporters’ turnout for Anwar on nomination day on Saturday where a mid-sized stadium crowd hogged the roads leading to the nomination centre. “The large turnout is unprecedented,” he reveled. "I've never seen such numbers. This showed that voters are not fazed by the sodomy allegations.”

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor), who was in Permatang Pauh to support Anwar’s nomination, wasn’t pleased at a huge banner carried by Kota Raja Umno members: he touted it as “racist”, based on a video he viewed online. The banner, depicting the declaration ‘Melayu Ditindas Mana Keadilan’ (Malays Oppressed, Where is Justice), was characterised by Kit as “very racist, communal and chauvinist” and an insult to the build-up to the 51st Merdeka celebrations.

Feeling aggrieved, Kit throttled in a slew of demands:
 he wants Umno to apologise and withdraw the banners from the by-election;
 he urged the Prime Minister and his deputy to explain whether they endorse such communal declaration; and
 he called on the MCA, MIC and Gerakan to take a strong stand whether they supported Umno's stance on the banner.

Whatever grievances pullulating at the Parliament lobby today did not mask the PKR’s ultra-confidence that a “new” Opposition leader will be appointed the day after the Permatang Pauh by-election on Aug 26, alluding that Anwar’s victory was a given. “A meeting will be convened soon with our counterparts the DAP and Pas to discuss who will fill Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's post. Hopefully, by the evening of Aug 26 or the next morning, we will have a consensus on who will be the new Opposition leader," he crowed to the media.

Even before campaign dissipates and balloting commences, Azmin, as PKR chief whip, dictated an audacious proclamation for Anwar’s victory. It was the way he announced it: was he being coy, confident or condescending? Perhaps a chunk of all three traits, at the rate the PKR battlestation is orbiting Malaysia’s political stratosphere with such determined menace, at least to their rattled rivals.