LIVE BOLLYWOOD ACTING IN PERMATANG PAUH BY-ELECTION

From tales of Umno Puteri members being fondled on nomination day to 10-year-old stories of skirt-chasing to financial scandals, this campaign has it all. And then, there are videos on the sodomy case against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 that was overturned, being distributed like hot cakes even in the remotest villages.

For good measure, the doctorate being pursued by BN candidate Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah has been investigated by the opposition and found to be from a dubious institution.

Arif, in his usual humble style, said he would withdraw from pursuing the degree, and though goaded, Anwar refused to criticise Arif on the matter, just commenting that it was good of Arif to admit the oversight.

However, Anwar went on record to warn Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that he would reveal an incident in Port Dickson involving Najib if Umno does not stop its personal attacks on Anwar.

Leaflets were being distributed in Malay villages labelling Anwar as a Chinese agent while in Chinese villages, he was being portrayed as a PAS stooge.

Both sides have also been distributing goodies, the BN giving out millions of ringgit to Chinese schools in the constituency and PKR giving out rice and other goods in some areas.

Supporters from both sides have also been working day and night to reach out to as many of the 58,359 voters as possible, with hardly one day of campaigning left.

But the PKR’s campaign machinery had been way ahead of the so-called well-oiled BN apparatus, which over the past five days has been sluggish to the point of being pathetic.

Although the BN election machine has always had a formidable reputation, it has so far not come together in Permatang Pauh.

Information on its programmes, the schedule of ceramah and itineraries of visiting leaders were lacking, and as the days rolled on, the pace has not improved.

Even the BN candidate himself seemed to be out of the picture of events organised by Umno Permatang Pauh.

When approached earlier, an apologetic Arif said all his programmes were being organised by the division and he was just following the arrangements.

So, the announcement that division leaders had closed ranks and were united for the by-election sounded hollow. Indeed, there seemed to be elements of boycott and sabotage.

Arif’s programmes were hardly prepared ahead of schedule and journalists covering him were only informed in the morning of his functions for the day.

Help from the division for any information was slow in coming and except for a few women and a handful of men hanging around, there was hardly any activity at his operations centre.

Even Arif’s assistants were unaware of Najib’s programmes in the constituency when he was in town.

A journalist who had called one of them about an event that Najib was scheduled to attend was stunned when told Arif was unaware of the function.

Instead of Arif, it is the division chief Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid who accompanied Najib at the various functions organised every night, while Arif has been conspicuously missing in action.

While Pakatan Rakyat has at least three ceramah nightly drawing crowds by the thousands with prominent speakers and leaders from PKR, DAP and PAS being present, BN has hardly had any speeches, relying on a house-to-house approach instead.

Arif started his day early in the morning in the market and then went on foot to numerous areas in the constituency to meet the people.

Though it might seem to emphasise the personal touch, it hardly looked like a good strategy considering that Anwar, despite his bad back, has been shuttling from one corner of the constituency to another, day and night.

Anwar has had to cut down on his walkabouts in the past two days due to back pain, but he still spoke at every ceramah organised nightly.

There has been no mammoth BN gathering nor ceramah over the past five days.

In contrast to the Umno operations centre, the PKR hub in Yayasan Aman in Penanti is a hive of activity until the wee hours of the morning.

The environment is media-friendly, and journalists from every organisation enjoyed Wi-Fi connection in the cool comfort of an air-conditioned room, with adequate space to file their stories.

Programmes for the next day were usually finalised by 4pm the previous day, printed and distributed, while SMSes and emails were also sent out updated with the latest programmes.

Journalists were also given the contact numbers of media liaison officers to confirm events which have been organised.

Numerous newsletters, leaflets, books, posters, stickers and other paraphernalia were being distributed by hundreds of campaign workers and supporters.

The large number of Chinese and Indian campaign workers working hard alongside their Malay counterparts made a strong impression.

If the BN has a secret weapon to stop Anwar’s bid to return to parliament, it is just not visible to the scores of journalists, both local and foreign, who have made Permatang Pauh their “home” for the past five days.

When Imam Ustaz Ramlang Porigi exposes that the swearing by Saiful Bukhari Azlan was another political agenda by UMNO, this would cause a great wound to Barisan Nasional/UMNO's campaign.

Mainstream newspapers or their respective website did not post any news regarding Ustaz Ramlang Porigi's exposure. This new evidence is a piece of information crucial and need to be informed to all Malaysians but yet mainstraem newspaper or websites failed to do so.

UMNO's constant libellous remarks on Anwar Ibrahim took a toll when he condemned the government’s by-election propaganda as the ‘most racist and fetid’ campaign he had ever witnessed.

So while the muslims are going around insulting islam, the muftis are covering and Syariah Courts are impotent. This the laugh of the century on the abuse of islam under the Ulamak Badawi. It is ok to insult islam by muslims themselves. Islam is turned into comedy and mosques are comedy theatres.

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