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Chinese throw their weight behind Pakatan

Anil Netto
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Any lingering doubts over who the Chinese Malaysians voters of Seberang Jaya were opting for were dispelled last night when about 3,000 people turned up to listen to Anwar and other PKR speakers such as Nurul Izzah and Azmin Ali. It was not so not so much the actual numbers but their enthusiastic reaction and body language and the way they warmed to Anwar’s speech.

Anwar was of course in his element and tugged at what was close to the hearts of the crowd – education, language and the economy. He stressed the importance of Chinese as a language of economic significance. He said that many people even in the United States were learning the language. “It is not because they love China, but they realise that it is a language of economic importance.”

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Petrol price cut a sign of desperation

Anil Netto
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Graph from oilnergy.com

Having identified one of the main sources of public disenchantment, the BN-led government, with one eye firmly on the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign, has cut the price of petrol from RM2.70 to RM2.55 – a reduction of 5.6 per cent.

This price change is clearly politically motivated. When they raised the petrol price in Malaysia by 41 per cent on 5 June, the price of Nymex Light Sweet Crude was around US$125 per barrel (on 4-5 June).

The closing price yesterday was US$121 – not much different from then – and now they announce a cut of 5.6 per cent? Tell me it has nothing to do with Permatang Pauh. Why didn’t they wait until 1 Sept, the date they had fixed earlier for “streamlining” oil prices?

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Tide turns against BN; landslide win for Pakatan?

Anil Netto
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BN supporters feeling the heat (Photo credit: Abang Benet)

I was on the mainland yesterday and ran into a few people. From my conversations with them, it sounded like quite a few people were determined to teach the BN a lesson in the by-election.

The Christians are utterly disgusted with the “show cause” letter to The Herald. They are definitely not impressed. Many of them are urging their friends and family members to vote for the opposition.

Najib and Khairy’s  presence – and Saiful’s via video – in Permatang Pauh could prove to be counterproductive, to put it politely.

I ran into a DAP grassroots worker and he said that they are going all out to ensure the BN candidate loses his deposit – and he seemed confident it was within reach! (That remains to be seen.) Rural Penanti and Permatang Pasir are in the Pakatan bag, he claimed. The only concern he had was with the low-rise low- and medium-cost flats in the ethnically mixed urban area of Seberang Jaya, which he said the BN could easily pinpoint for targeted campaigning.

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The official BN drink of the Permatang Pauh campaign

Anil Netto
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15

Fancy a drink, anyone? Expiry date: 12 Aug 2011 (I am not sure if that refers to the shelf-life of the water or the BN’s expiry date. Anyway, I hope the drinking water suppliers get paid!)

You meet the most unexpected people when you go ceramah hunting. The media people are the most avid ceramah followers, trailing the elusive candidates wherever they go.

You also bump into fellow bloggers and internet journalists like I did on Tuesday night, when I ran into bloggers Mustafa K Anuar and Susan Loone, a journalist from Merdeka Review and the new kids on the block from The Nutgraph. It was my privilege to buy them a round of teh tarik, milo kosong, and air bandung. If not for them, your only news from the by-election campaign would be from the mainstream media. I also have to thank a particular mainstream news editor – who shall not be named! – for providing me info on how to get to the latest ceramah and for updating me on developments that I may have missed. There are a few good people in the mainstream media, with their hearts in the right place. It’s just that they are often not given the freedom to write what they believe in – thanks to their top editors. That must change – the sooner the better. Anyway, you can see us having drinks here.

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What’s at stake in Permatang Pauh

Anil Netto
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The folks at Aliran have been busy putting together the latest issue of Aliran Monthly in time for the by-election. And it has just been mailed out to subscribers. If you are not a subscriber, what are you waiting for? 🙂 To subscribe, just click here. Or you can get a copy from leading book-shops and selected news vendors.

This month, because of the forthcoming Permatang Pauh by-election, the cover story is immediately available online! Khoo Boo Teik discusses the significance of three recent elections involving small towns and goes on to the suggest that Permatang Pauh will be a major political battleground whose outcome will have national significance. For many Malaysians, Permatang Pauh’s mission, come 26 August, is more than about returning Anwar to Parliament. This town has a national choice to make.

Anwar addressing a large crowd in Permatang Pauh

Barring massive electoral fraud, Anwar is one by-election and two weeks short of returning to Parliament. When he does, he’d be the Opposition Leader of a second coalition. After that people would want to know if he’d really form a new Federal government in mid-September as he has declared, promised, or threatened. Full story in Aliran Monthly

Lim vs Koh: Did they really address PGCC/Batu Kawan?

Anil Netto
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Live at 9.00pm over ntv7

Share your impressions of the debate on questionable land deals in Penang in the comments below and vote in the poll:

This debate also allowed Koh Tsu Koon an opportunity to provide a public rebuttal to Guan Eng’s accusations.

Open letter to Guan Eng, Tsu Koon ahead of ‘live’ debate

Anil Netto
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10

300 acres in Batu Kawan unpaid: Why hasn’t PDC taken back the land?

Address the controversial PGCC/Batu Kawan land deals in your debate

We hope you will address the issues arising from the “mother and father of all questionable land deals” in your debate.

We note with interest your ‘live’ debate tomorrow which will probably touch on several questionable and controversial land deals in the state over the last few years.

There are no other deals that are more controversial and questionable than those involving the sale (and conversion) of 260 acres of land belonging to the Penang Turf Club and as well as the sale of 1,000 acres of Batu Kawan land belonging to the PDC. Both deals were entered into in 2004.

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Something remarkable happened near the UiTM campus

Anil Netto
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40

Umno supporters unfurl a banner supporting the Malays-only status quo of the UiTM college on Nomination Day (Photo credit: Abang Benet)

At around 9.45 last night, Anwar bravely addressed a crowd of close to a thousand people on a service road outside the UiTM Permatang Pauh campus. Nearby apartment dwellers and students from the hostel, mainly Malay, poured out to listen to him. Some of these students must have been among the reported crowd of  5,000 who had demonstrated here against Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim’s suggestion that the university open its doors to non-bumiputeras (see below).

Anwar stressed to the crowd the importance of multiracialism. He would be a prime minister that would be fair to all Malaysians and it would be his responsibility to make sure he took care of all ethnic groups.

“Orang Melayu anak saya… (pause) …  orang Cina anak saya … (pause) …. orang India … anak saya,” he said in poetic and dramatic fashion.

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Helicopter beams searchlight on 30,000-crowd

Anil Netto
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10

This police chopper was one of a pair that circled continuously above the large crowd on Nomination Day (Photo credit: Abang Benet)

BUKIT JELUTONG, Permatang Pasir – A helicopter, believed to be a police chopper, beamed its searchlight over a crowd of about 30,000 listening to Anwar at a Pakatan ceramah just before he brought the curtain down at midnight yesterday.

“It’s okay, let them disturb us for a bit. I will complete my speech,” said Anwar earlier, as the helicopter clattered overhead. “It’s not always we get a helicopter in Permatang Pauh!”

Permatang Pasir, a state seat held by Pas, lies in the Malay heartland of Permatang Pauh. Thousands had gathered in a large open area in Bukit Jelutong, which was also filled by the huge travelling bazaar that follows Anwar’s ceramah everywhere. I saw stalls selling everything from nasi biriani, fried jackfruit and what looked like aphrodisiacs!

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Kin Woon quits Gerakan and BN

Anil Netto
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Where is Kin Woon?: Gerakan leaders and reps stand in front of what looks like a pile of food on Nomination Day (Photo credit: Abang Benet)

Gerakan central committee member Toh Kin Woon has quit the party and, by extension, the BN.

He will probably focus more on civil society work. He is a long-time member and supporter of the social reform group Aliran and chairman of the Penang-based Socio-economic and Environmental Research Institute (Seri).

This is what Kin Woon said over the phone:

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