Photos by Anil

Last night, I thought I would go and check out the scene in Permatang Pasir at random. It didn’t take me long to stumble upon a crowd along Jalan Kubang Semang, near the Permatang Pauh old town centre. Traffic police were doing a good job making sure the crowd did not spill on to the road.

As I approached the ceramah venue, I heard a familiar voice – Anwar’s. He was urging the voters of Permatang Pasir to ask BN leaders to do as much as possible for the area.

“As the MP for Permatang Pauh (in which the state seat of Permatang Pasir lies), I urge all of you to ask the BN leaders for whatever you need, whether road repairs or improvements to the mosques or whatever. Take whatever is given, but you know how to vote,” he said to chuckles from the crowd.

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Photos by Anil

Video footage of Padang Serai MP Gobalakrishnan’s arrest

Between 5,000 and 10,000 Pakatan supporters rallied outside the nomination centre for the Permatang Pasir by-election. I was not able to gauge the size of the BN crowd as the two sets of supporters were kept apart. Quite a few of the supporters wore surgical masks because of their fear of H1N1.

This was the same nomination centre used for the Penanti by-election and this time the crowd appeared much larger than the few thousand that had turned up back then. Among the crowd were small contingents of DAP and PKR reps.

Nearer the nomination centre, Pakatan speakers addressed the crowd. The police presence was noticeably lighter. Penang CPO Ayub Yaakob had earlier spoken of a new approach in putting public order units only on stand-by following complaints that the police presence in previous by-elections had been overwhelming; just over a thousand personnel would reportedly be on duty this time. Apart from the usual plainclothes cops, I spotted the dark-blue uniformed units, mostly concentrated just outside the nomination centre, and their blue jeeps; no sign of any riot police.

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The Penang State Assembly member for Permatang Pasir, Hamdan Abdul Rahman from Pas, passed away at dawn, according to a source in Permatang Pauh who was informed by Hamdan’s personal assistant.

Hamdan, who suffered from heart complications, has been described as “a good man”, concerned about the people’s problems, humble and easily approachable.

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