4 theSun | THURSDAY APRIL 9 2009

news without borders

It’s the will of Perak people, says Anwar

by Karen Arukesamy
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: The victory of Paka-
tan Rakyat (PR)’s Perak Mentri Besar
Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamalud-
din in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary
by-election on Tuesday reaffirms the
will of the people of Perak to elect the
leader of their choice, says Opposition
Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“Nizar’s victory shows the people
support our stand to dissolve the
Perak state assembly and have state
election for them to decide who they
want as their elected representatives,”
he told a press conference in the PKR
headquarters yesterday.
Anwar said there was a clear in-
crease in the margin of Malay votes for
PKR’s Bukit Selambau assemblyman S.
Manikumar.
“The support is very strong despite
‘attacks’ by various quarters, calling us
‘traitors’ and that we have forgotten
about the Malay agenda,” said Anwar,
adding that since it was a working
day, many young voters were unable
to return to vote.
He said the Bukit Gantang by-elec-
tion saw a good number of Chinese and
Indian voters “courageously” coming
out to vote for PR’s PAS candidate.
“I am very pleased with the level
of support we received, particularly
among the Chinese and managed to
sustain the support of Malays despite
BN’s agenda of championing Malay
supremacy,” he said.
“The results are a clear referendum
on the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN)
government, its divisive politics and its
failure to implement any reforms since
the March 8, 2008 general election,”he
added.
Stressing that PR had since won
with increased majorities in four by-
elections, Anwar said: “The people are
no more ‘gullible’ and easily convinced
by the claims of leaders. They vote for
leaders who are consistent with their
agendas.”
On PR’s loss in Batang Ai, he said:
“Sarawak remains a frontline for PKR
and PR. We are not discouraged by the
result. We are still confident of doing
well in Sarawak’s next state election.”
He said the irregularities in the
voting procedure, including tampering
of ballot boxes, cast doubt on the cred-
ibility of the Batang Ai electoral result.
“We are investigating allegations
that in 14 polling booths, the EC did not
count the votes immediately after clos-
ing polling. Instead, they transported
the ballot boxes to the polling centre
by helicopters and boats.”
Asked whether PR will form a shad-
ow cabinet, Anwar said: “No. We have
agreed on a special panel represented
by all the three parties to oversee
and monitor each ministry. The panel
members will be named soon.”
PKR Information chief Tian Chua
later told theSun the panels had
already been set up and functioning
for about a year and Anwar would
probably announce the names of
the respresentatives before the next
Parliament sitting.

‘Gangrenes’ of Bukit Selambau
analysis by Himanshu Bhatt
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
FOR years to come, an idyllic
green field in Taman Ria Jaya on
the suburbs of Sungai Petani will
be remembered for a dramatic
incident unusual for the people
here. It was here that on March 23
police fired tear gas and chemi-
cal sprays into a crowd of some
3,000 people, including elderly and
children, who had gathered to hear
parliamentary Opposition Leader
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim speak.
The PKR supremo had barely
uttered his first few words when
the rally, held before the official
Bukit Selambau state by-election
campaign period, was forcefully
dispersed.
Days later, a villager described
how he saw people ran, some
getting caught in barbed wire and
thorny shrubs, some hurt by the
chemical fumes.
“People all over town spoke
about it for days after that,” he
said, smoking on his thin “cerut”.
Though the police maintained
that the gathering was illegal
and that prior warning had been
issued, the incident helped bol-
ster bitter resentment against
the Barisan Nasional (BN) for its
perceived high-handedness, even
before campaigning had begun.
Whatever its eventual results,
the Bukit Selambau by-election
must be noted for the “gangrene”
it exposed – both in the BN and
Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
The election was won by PKR’s
S. Manikumar who represented
PR, amassing 12,632 votes com-
pared with the 10,229 for BN’s
MIC candidate Datuk S. Ganesan.
Though touted as a clean,
educated entrepreneur, Maniku-
mar had much to contend with
when introduced. One can hardly
remember a time when a can-
didate’s selection had provoked
such overtly furious response
from within a party.
At first glance, the criticisms
appeared to stem from local party
stalwarts who felt stung at being
overlooked despite their long
service to PKR. Seeing an absolute
political novice being chosen only
rubbed salt into the wounds.
There were, however, deeper
implications beneath these
internal criticisms towards the
PKR leadership’s choice. For
some time now, members had
complained of a “party within a
party” in Kedah PKR, with certain
quarters feeling marginalised.
In fact, a former assistant to
V. Arumugam, the assemblyman
whose resignation forced the by-
election, called him a “puppet” in
the PAS-led Kedah government.
Augustine Gnanapragasam
went as far as to describe how PR
state executive councillors turned
a deaf ear to Arumugam’s reports,
particularly on Indian problems.
He even claimed to have
watched Arumugam once crying
in his car, as certain problems he
raised in state executive council
meetings were hardly being en-
tertained. “Now, they have chosen
just another person to heed their
beck and call,” Augustine said of
the docile and compliant Maniku-
mar.
Detractors like Augustine
sneered at Kedah Mentri Besar
and PAS commissioner Datuk
Seri Azizan Abd Razak’s act to
perform ground-breaking for a
Tamil school during the height
of campaigning, saying he was
being hypocritical.
The BN too resorted to using
government machinery to offer
funds and corrective develop-
ments that had been unseen
for years in some estates and
kampungs.
Sure, there was a euphoric
reception for Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad on the last day of cam-
paigning but on close scrutiny, one
found that the crowd in the Dewan
Institut Kemahiran Mara in Sungai
Petani was packed not so much
with local voters as it was with BN
members, many of whom were
from out of town.
Other BN rallies, including one
by Ezam Mohd Noor, a former PKR
youth chief who is now a fervent
Umno supporter, drew piteously
scant local audiences.
But with the PR administration
being so badly bruised along the
way to victory, one wonders if the
votes that it garnered were more
anti-BN than genuinely pro-PR.
Arumugam returns,
explains
disappearance
ALOR STAR: Former Kedah executive council
member V.Arumugam, who returned from India
yesterday, said he had left the country because of
the threat on his life and that of his family as well
as the pressure on him to leave the party.
“I fled to Mumbai alone to seek peace of mind
and only returned after the conclusion of the by-
election for Bukit Selambau as I feel the situation
would have cooled down and it would be safe.”
He declined to reveal who had pressured him to
defect but said only by leaving the country could he
escape from being a victim of circumstances.
“I don’t regret giving up the two posts (state
assemblyman and executive councillor) on Feb 8,”
he said when met on arrival at the Sultan Abdul
Halim Airport here about 3pm.
His wife M. Mariyaee, 36, and youngest child,
Selvanthiran, seven, were waiting for him, accom-
panied by a lawyer Murshidah Mustafa.
Kedah State Assembly Speaker Datuk Mohd
Isa Ismail, political secretary to the Kedah Mentri
Besar Md Sanusi Md Nor and newly-elected Bukit
Selambau assemblyman S. Manikumar were also
at the airport to greet him.
Arumugam had won the Bukit Selambau state
seat as an Independent in the general election on
March 8 last year before joining the PKR. – Bernama
Manikumar
(right)
Car stolen from under her nose
raises the by Charles Ramendran car missing.The car is fitted with an ad-
hand of newsdesk@thesundaily.com vanced anti-theft system including an
Arumugam immobiliser but the thieves managed
as he PETALING JAYA: A secure auto gate to break into it,” she told theSun.
arrives at and your presence indoors is no hin- The car she bought three years ago
the Sultan drance to car thieves. was worth over RM100,000, she said.
Abdul Cases of cars being stolen from Soo-Hoo, who lodged a report at
Halim houses under the noses of their owners the Subang Jaya police station, said the
Airport are becoming rampant of late. incident occurred despite security guards
from Yesterday, at SS15 Subang Jaya, hired by residents patrolling the area.
Mumbai corporate legal adviser Soo-Hoo Siew Subang Jaya police chief ACP Za-
yesterday. Hoon, 35, lost her Honda Civic which inal Rashid said there have been many
was parked at the porch of her house reports of cars being stolen in similar
to car thieves. fashion and a task force is making efforts
Her husband was awake till 4am but to track down the car theft syndicate.
both heard nothing though the thieves He urged owners of vehicles es-
drove away the car in the dead silence pecially those with cars targeted by
of the night. thieves to take additional precautions
“I only found out it was gone when such as padlocking their main gates
I was leaving for work at 8.30am. My and installing a global positioning sys-
auto main gate was wide open and my tem (GPS) tracking unit in their cars.