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 ©The
New Paper, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Seto Nu-Wen
WHY Permatang Pauh?
Click to see larger image
Why not Lembah Pantai? Or Bandar Tun Razak? Or Gombak?
These are parliamentary seats whose MPs had mentioned vacating their post to
make way for Mr Anwar Ibrahim.
And the opposition leader himself had announced earlier this week that he would
contest the Kulim by-election in Kedah.
So why the change?
Especially since picking such a safe choice would seem to display the
opposition's lack of confidence?
But at the heart of it, Mr Anwar's decision to contest in the Permatang Pauh
by-election was deliberate, believes Malaysian political analyst James Wong.
He told The New Paper that by taking over a seat from his own wife, Mr
Anwar might be trying to prevent the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN),
from politicising the move.
'If Mr Anwar had taken any other opposition seat, the BN would say he is not
giving his own party members face. He is just walking in and taking what they
have already fought to win in the last elections,' he said.
'But if it's Dr Wan Azizah giving up her seat... that, people can accept. It's a
wife, a family member, offering up her own seat to her husband.'
Besides, Dr Wan Azizah has always made it clear that she was an accidental
politician who was forced to step up to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)'s top job
after her husband's 1998 downfall.
But if the plan is to keep it within the family, why not aim for daughter Nurul
Izzah's Lembah Pantai seat?
When the 27-year-old budding politician decided to contest in this year's
elections, word within the party was that she would eventually vacate her seat
to pave the way for her father's return to politics.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's head of political science, Dr Ahmad
Nidzammuddin, feels that Mr Anwar did not want to jeopardise his daughter's
political career.
'She beat an Umno veteran (Wanita Umno deputy chief Shahrizat Jalil) for her
seat. She has demonstrated that she can perform and has potential to be a
politician on her own,' he explained.
PROBLEMS
But even though winning the by-election will end up being a sure thing for Mr
Anwar, picking Permatang Pauh has its problems as well.
Dr Ahmad believes that BN might view Mr Anwar's choice as a sign of
'desperation'.
'They will say he's going back there because, of course, he'll win it.'
Already, Umno leaders have scoffed at the move.
Some have said Mr Anwar is trying to distract voters from the sodomy allegations
against him.
Tourism minister Azalina Othman told New Straits Times: 'They (Mr Anwar
and wife) are treating Permatang Pauh as a family playground where they can
simply pass the baton as and how they like.'
After all, Permatang Pauh is Mr Anwar's comfort zone - a seat that he held onto
for almost four terms before his 1998 jail sentence.
His wife swept into power in 1999 and managed to keep a firm grip on it, even
during the 'blue wave' of the 2004 elections when BN won more than 90 per cent
of the parliamentary seats.
Mr Wong said: 'Permatang Pauh is Anwar's home ground. No matter what, there will
always be a core of people who will support the hometown boy.'
Added Dr Ahmad: 'Barring any technical controversies, he will definitely win,
with an even bigger margin than his wife's.'
But Mr Anwar has downplayed Permatang Pauh's significance.
He told the Malaysian media on Friday: 'Actually (Selangor chief minister) Tan
Sri Khalid Ibrahim had offered Bandar Tun Razak, so did Azmin Ali with his
Gombak seat.
'They are all safe seats, including the one in Kulim.'
Mr Wong has another theory why Mr Anwar has decided to return to his Penang
roots - the timing now is just right.
He said: 'In 1998, the opposition was dominated by fiery characters like Lim Kit
Siang, Hadi Awang and Anwar himself. What was needed was someone to integrate
the different parties together.
'Wan Azizah filling the seat was suitable because that role suited her gentle
personality.
'Now the winds of change are different. The opposition supporters are feeling
the pinch of the fuel hikes and inflation. They are a lot angrier.
'Permatang Pauh voters need someone with a more aggressive stance, someone who
is vocal and fiery, and Anwar fits the bill now.'
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Circular No 297/2008
My friend, a Penang-based analyst, has said at a breakfast session last weekend that barring the unforeseen, Anwar should get 35,000 votes if the turnout in the 58,500-strong constituency reaches 80 per cent.
:
This means that the National Front candidate will get only 11,800 ballots.
With the unearthing of the two land scandals that may cost the state government RM120 million or more that the former chief minister Koh Tsu Koon of the Gerakan has so far been quiet about, sentiment against the National Front is very strong.
Tsu Koon must now clear the deck by explaining how the land scandals had occurred during his watch.
Stephen Tan Ban Cheng
P.S. I dedicate the above posting to Mr P. Patto, my former teacher friend and Member of Parliament for Ipoh and later Bagan, who died on July 12, 1995, or slightly more than 13 years ago.
P.P.S. I also received a short note from Janadas Devan, the journalist son of the late Devan Nair on Aug 3 after he read the following comment that appeared at the end of "Armed for a Fresh Battle" (July 27, 200
MUG CONFUSED FOR COFFEE?
Written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, 27 July, 2008 at 03:16 pm
One man against the entire system. Sounds like George Orwell's Nineteen Eighteen-Four to me, except that this is for real, a real life story, and Jeya has been at it for the last 37 years
from 1971.
There were more downs than ups for this solid man, this character with moral fibre.
Thanks to the law of defamation in the island republic that virtually denies the existence of qualified privilege, he was bankrupted and marginalised from the political arena for at
least seven years.
Jeya epitomises the sorry state of human dignity in Singapore. I have a friend called Devan Nair. He was also given a very rough deal, and he certainly deserves much better, very much better treatment after being with Lee Kuan Yew through thick and thin.
He has since passed away in Ontario, Canada.
As I have said all the time, how do we treat our fellow men? With kindness or with cruelty?
And I do agree with Jeya that life is to be celebrated. Life is the coffee we drink. The shirts we wear, the cars we drive and the houses we live in – these are just the mugs. We
must never confuse the mug for the coffee. Just enjoy the coffee.
I humbly dedicate this posting to Mr C.V. Devan Nair, a fiery trade unionist and politician who passed away on Dec. 6, 2005, at the age of 82, a few months after the demise on April 18, 2005, of his wife, also a former MP of the Singapore Parliament.