Permatang Pauh - Another nail to BN's coffin?

Anwar Ibrahim (left) seized a momentous victory in the Permatang Pauh by-election, further solidifying the Oppostion's move to take over the federal government by Sept 16. Prior to that, his wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail held the seat for two terms and had recently resigned to make way for her husband's return to active politics. On the March 8 elections, she acquired a 13,388 vote-majority to ensure Permatang Pauh remains a constituency for the Opposition. However, this time around Anwar managed to wrestle in a whopping 15,671 vote-majority over the Barisan Nasional candidate, Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah. That's 2,283 more votes than his wife had.

The choice of Arif Shah (right) as the man to challenge Anwar in the by-election is somewhat not of a surprise. The assemblyman from Seberang Jaya actually speaks fluent Mandarin. This was seen as a desperate act for Barisan Nasional to woo more Chinese voters as the March 8 elections proved that UMNO no longer had the majority support of the Malay community in that area.

If appointing a Mandarin-speaking candidate wasn't enough to ensure more Chinese support, the Federal Government also gave RM1.2 million to six Chinese primary schools. You would think they might as well send a Chinese deputy minister to officiate that, right? Yes. That was exactly what they did.

BUTTERWORTH: The Federal Government yesterday gave RM1.2 million to six Chinese primary schools here to repair classrooms and halls. Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong (left) said each school would receive RM200,000. [NST, 20/8/2008]

The New Straits Times also reported of heavier campaigning by Barisan Nasional into Chinese-majority areas of Permatang Pauh. Their plan obviously did not work.

The defeat of Barisan Nasional here is one painful pill to swallow for the party's top brass. The leaders have earlier expressed their confidence in Barisan Nasional's (BN) odds of winning the support of the people.

"When we first started to campaign, people said the BN did not stand any chance of a victory. However, after two weeks of effort, pleading and praying, the support has tilted our way," Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak (right) said. [NST, 26/8/2008]

Najib would now have to eat his words or fire whoever that had misinformed him of support being tilted to BN's way.

Anwar's victory may just take the Opposition one step closer to overthrowing the federal government by Sept 16. The charismatic 61 year-old is seen as the next Prime Minister by many Malaysians who believe that a change of government is what Malaysia needs.

Nevertheless, Permatang Pauh is definitely another nail to Barisan Nasional's coffin.

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