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Bkt Selambau: Voices from ground favour Pakatan

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1 Apr 2009

2330: Greetings from Bukit Selambau! Reached here at 9.45pm via the Sungai Petani North exit of the North-South Highway. For the second night running, a police check-point had been set up immediately after the toll booth.

Arrived at a nasi kandar restaurant, only to see some activity outside, where a small crowd of curious onlookers had gathered. Turns out it was the former Jerai PKR chief, B Kalaivanar, giving a speech in the open-air just outside the restaurant.

Kalaivanar said he did not belong to the PKR nor the BN, but was an “NGO”. I didn’t quite catch what he was saying as he was about to leave but from what I understand, he seemed in favour of the BN now. Moments after he left with his small entourage, a silver police CID car arrived. Too late.

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Bkt Selambau: Indoor ceramah… or open-air rally?

Anil Netto

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1 Apr 2009

6

Anwar addresses a crowd of about 5,000 last night, just before introducing the candidate, a somewhat shy S Manikumar, whose voice was already hoarse from campaigning.

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Bkt Gantang: Pakatan worried about over-confidence

Malaysian elections

Anil Netto

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1 Apr 2009

17

A rustic scene from Bukit Gantang – Photo by Jong

Many expect Pakatan to easily win Bukit Gantang. But Pakatan campaigners, it would seem, are worried about over-confidence leading to complacency.

Wong Kah Woh reports from Ipoh in his blog:

I was at Simpang PR-DAP ceramah yesterday with 300 people attending. The atmosphere is worrying in the sense that the public are too confident of Nizar victory while in fact that is not the case. Not to forget, Barisan is also having free dinners here and there to buy votes, more particularly there were two free dinners of 180 tables each just nearby our ceramah yesterday.

The crowd attending our ceramahs play a very important role. It is not only that they have to be convinced to vote for Pakatan-Nizar. They must also help to convey the message to the rest, to the fence-sitters, on how to ensure a Pakatan-Nizar’s victory.

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Bkt Selambau: Anwar uses creative “indoor ceramah”

Anil Netto

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1 Apr 2009

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Indoor ceramah, outdoor crowd: Anwar speaks from the covered corridor of a shoplot while the crowd listens from the street outside – Photos by Anil Netto

Anwar speaking from inside a private residence to a crowd of 5,000 seated on a field opposite

Pakatan politicians are using creative means to overcome various restrictions.

Take for instance the police restriction on ceramah in “public places” in Kedah, which effectively bans open-air public rallies.

The restrictions confine the ceramah to indoor locations. So the Pakatan politicians are now stretching the definition of “indoors”. While the politicians addressing the crowd are now indoors – in shophouses or inside private premises, the crowds spill out to the streets or fields outside the indoor locations.

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Abdullah, Tsu Koon must explain Batu Kawan land deal

Accountability

Anil Netto

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31 Mar 2009

15

It is interesting to hear Abdullah Badawi saying that the second Penang Bridge will proceed as planned even if he is no longer PM.

Abdullah and former Penang chief minister Koh Tsu Koon have not explained how a little known but well-connected company, Abad Naluri, managed to get hold of over 1,000 acres of potential prime land in Batu Kawan on the mainland, just around the site of the proposed second Penang bridge.

On 16 Jan 2004, just one and a half months after Abdullah took over as PM, the Penang Development Corporation entered into a ‘master agreement’ to sell eight plots of land in Batu Kawan to the “fortunate” Abad Naluri. In Nov 2006, Abdullah officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony of the second Penang Bridge, located near these plots.

On what basis was one company granted such a vast area of land and at what price?

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Batang Ai: A tough and crucial contest

Malaysian elections

Anil Netto

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30 Mar 2009

13

BN supporters on Nomination Day – Photos by an anonymous Sarawakian

And the PKR forces

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Bkt Selambau: MIC and PKR ops centres side-by-side

Malaysian elections

Anil Netto

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30 Mar 2009

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Rival neighbours: The MIC candidate’s ops centre (left) just two doors away from the PKR ops centre (right) – Photo by Anil Netto

An unusual situation in Bukit Selambau with the ops centre for the two parties in “close proximity” not far from the Sungai Petani town centre. And in front of both ops centres, a police canopy booth at a bus stop on a main road. Yes, the canopies are back with a heavy police presence in Sungai Petani and surrounding areas.

When I was there last night, a mini ceramah was in progress at the PKR ops centre. It was funny to hear a PKR speaker using a sound system to denounce the MIC and saying stuff like “Kita mesti menolak MIC” while a couple of doors away the MIC volunteers were nonchalantly carrying on business as usual, paying no attention. All in a day’s work.

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Bukit Gantang: Photo the newspapers didn’t show you

Malaysian elections

Anil Netto

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30 Mar 2009

34

A massive crowd pouring into the streets of Taiping on Nomination Day yesterday – Photo courtesy of Wartawan Rasmi Laman Reformasi (Click to expand)

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PM’s handover to Najib “in due course”

M'sian politics

Anil Netto

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30 Mar 2009

21

The Sunday Star on page 2 quoted Abdullah as saying he would seek an audience with the Agong on Thursday to tell him of his intention to resign as PM.

“I hope that the official handover ceremony can be held on the same day,” he was quoted as saying.

The paper had an interesting correction today – on page 8:

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Mat Taib speaks good English after all…

Anil Netto

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30 Mar 2009

51

… so how come he didn’t understand airport currency regulations when he was caught bringing in hard cash, lots of it, into Australia?

Adds blog reader Sam who spotted this report:

If you had observed during the weeks and days leading to the Umno General Assembly and elections, Dr M continued to push delegates not to elect leaders who have a very poor command of English. From nowhere, a deputy president aspirant, Mat Taib, comes out defending that he has an immaculate command of the English Language.

Mahathir was quoted in Malaysiakini as saying:

“One of the candidates couldn’t write in English, he couldn’t speak English and therefore (that was why) he did something wrong in Australia because he could not understand English. My choice is Muhyiddin (Yassin).”

This excerpt from The Star

Published: Saturday March 21, 2009 MYT 7:58:00 PM
‘I can speak in English,’ says Muhammad Taib
By ROYCE CHEAH

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno deputy-president candidate, Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib, is aware that there are people talking about his apparent lack of fluency in English.

In answering questions at the Umno overseas club leadership course yesterday, he not only took a swipe at his critics but also proceeded to list his achievements to prove that he had a good grasp of the language.

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