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Ustaz Ramlang Porigi getting a load off his chest: “I was ordered to witness Saiful’s oath… This sort of oath should have been undertaken in the presence of both parties.”
0010: Anwar makes a reference to Nalla’s former driver’s sworn statement re: Najib. Even the Hindus are now getting into the sumpah act, he observes. How come none of the Chinese are swearing, he jokes…
He highlights a house in Permatang Pauh which has 100 voters.
2350: Anwar arrives to chants of “Reformasi! Takbir! Allahu Akhbar!” He says journalists from around the world are here to cover the by-election. He condemns the racial tactics used in the campaign. He says he is accused of being an agent of everyone – Jews, Americans, Chinese… He asks the Malays to reject corrupt BN leaders and not blame other races such as the Chinese or others. The helicopter is back! Anwar mocks the 15-sen oil price reduction. He recalls his ordeal in the past while the crowd listens in rapt attention. Now he mocks the BN leaders’ sumpah antics.
2330: I meet a Penanti-based blogger and he predicts a majority of 10,000-15,000. A ceramah speaker goes one better, predicting a 20,000-majority. He says they are better prepared to detect phantom voters if they turn up. “We will make sure the election is clean.” The same speaker says they are warning Khairy to retract his statement that the PKR campaign is funded by America or else they will sue him. He adds that they caught people – allegedly Kepala Batas Umno supporters – putting up misleading banners. “Campaign properly and talk about the real issues, don’t resort to such underhand tactics,” he urges.
2315: Ustaz Ramlang Porigi is now speaking. He is an imam at the Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan, one of those who witnessed Saiful’s oath. He wants to get something off his chest and goes on to explain what really happened on the day when Saiful swore he was sodomised.
Ramlang says he was ordered (diarahkan) to become a witness to Saiful’s swearing but he does not say who ordered him. Anyway, he didn’t arrange Saiful’s oath-taking. The text of Saiful’s oath was probably advised by his lawyers or others. Ramlang considers Saiful’s oath as undertaken for his own benefit.
The imam says that, from what he has studied, this particular form of oath – sumpah mubahalah – has to be undertaken in the presence of both parties involved. It is only meant as a last resort where there is no evidence available for adjudication in court. But in this case, the matter was still in court, so the oath cannot not be considered to be sumpah mubahalah. It was just an oath for Saiful’s own benefit.
He adds that on that day, Saiful did not appear to be perturbed or afraid as a Muslim would normally be when undertaking such a solemn oath with all its possible serious consequences. Perhaps because Saiful was reading from a prepared text, he may not have been perturbed. But he made errors in reciting the oath.
Ramlang hopes that after this revelation he won’t be blamed (for this whole swearing business).
This imam is just a small-time imam not an Imam Besar, adds Pas commissioner Ibrahim.
Just caught the 8.00pm news over TV1 and TV3.
For the first 20 minutes it was almost all BN propaganda. The propaganda centred on four main areas:
They came from far and near to Permatang Pauh last night
This was the scene at the Pakatan ceramah in Seberang Jaya last night, attended by close to 3,000 people.
They shouted “Reformasi!” and “Makkal Sakthi” enthusiastically. For some, it was their first experience at a political rally. “I never knew it could be so interesting,” said a politically awakened middle-class resident of Butterworth.
Much of the discussion among the crowd centred on whether Anwar could improve on his wife Azizah’s winning majority of over 13,000.
One Permatang Pauh voter told me that he had heard from a reliable source that support for Anwar was currently running at 70:30 and that the Pakatan leader could improve on Azizah’s winning majority by a few thousand. “Even if it’s a dirty election, he could win by a 10,000-vote majority,” he insisted.
Anwar himself has called for caution, warning that more dirty tricks could surface between now and polling day. “Don’t be surprised at what else they could bring up.” He highlighted cases of certain people going around photostating the ICs of voters.
Anwar speaking in Seberang Jaya last night
Anwar has sharply criticised the federal government for overcrowded general hospitals such as the one in Seberang Jaya.
He said he was responsible for the construction of the hospital more than a decade ago. “But look at the state of the hospital today,” he said during a ceramah in the midst of low-cost flats in Seberang Jaya last night. “It is so overcrowded and I feel sorry for the poor folks there.”
The rich and the better off have the option of seeking immediate treatment in private hospitals but the poor have no choice but to wait at government hospitals. “If they need heart surgery, for instance, they might have to wait for eight months,” said Anwar. “But by the seventh month, they could have dropped dead.”
Meet Kris Khaira, a human rights activist from Penang. He and his colleagues from GMI (Gabungan Mansuhkan ISA or Abolish ISA Movement) have been campaigning against the draconian ISA, which permits detention without trial, at some of the ceramah in the ongoing campaign. The GMI is a coalition of over 80 civil society groups.
They have been getting the crowds to participate in postcard campaigns and distributing Abolish ISA badges.
Kumar received a rousing reception in Seberang Jaya last night
Giant-killer Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj joined in the by-election campaign last night in Seberang Jaya. He was introduced as the wira (hero) who defeated the long-time MIC president Samy Vellu in the general election. The crowd cheered loudly.
In his address, Kumar spoke about the impact of economic recessions of the past. “Each time there is an economic slowdown, Umno would be split as they fight over which cronies to rescue,” he pointed out. “This happened in 1987 and 1997-98. The same thing is happening now.” In the process, racial issues would be raised to deflect attention from the divisions in the party leadership.
Pas treasurer Hatta Ramli has stressed that his party is firmly behind Anwar’s bid for the premiership.
Speaking in front of a multi-racial crowd of about 3,000 last night near low-rise low-cost flats in Seberang Jaya, he declared that the party has never wavered from its stand all these years that it would support Anwar as prime minister. (Photo credit: hattaramli.blogspot.com)
Here’s a treat for you! Check out the all-new digital version of Aliran Monthly. Aliran is providing the inaugural edition free to all readers in conjunction with the Permatang Pauh by-election. You can experiment and play around with the feature-rich icons inside.
Okay, I am off to Permatang Pauh now!
Meanwhile, Muhammad Firdaus Christopher shares this view from Ground Zero:
Dear Anil & readers,
I have been in P44 areas every night since 16th Aug and I can tell you that these BN … are spending … money on food, food, food. The only activity to be seen in the camps are makciks, pakciks, brothers and sisters all having some good bite (apart from talking trash). They are simply wasting … funds; no wonder they still have an outstanding mammoth bill of RM218M from 2004.
Bottomline, Datuk Seri is gaining more and more votes from the folks here…
Salam Reformasi!
No one home…
Last night, while I was in Seberang Jaya, I couldn’t help noticing a number of BN road-side ‘operations centres’ that were deserted. No one home. Mind you this was in BN candidate Ariff Shah’s stronghold, his Penang state assembly seat area.
Of course, there were a few BN booths that did have volunteers staffing them. But the number of BN stalls that lay empty suggests that the ruling coalition clearly over-estimated the response it would receive from volunteers.
The first three of these photos were taken near the site of an Anwar ceramah in a residential area (near Jalan Siakap 12), which saw a crowd of around a thousand turning up to listen. It was between 10.30pm and 11.00pm, when many people were on the streets checking out what was going on.