Frankly speaking, most of the time, I just couldn’t understand why the minority coalition parties like MCA, Gerakan, MIC and etc. continue to stick with Umno in BN even though they continue to be harassed and humiliated by their big brother?

Let’s take a look at the recent Permatang Pauh by-election. During the campaign period, Bukit Bendera Umno division head Ahmad Ismail had allegedly said Chinese were "squatters" in the country, who were both selfish and unjust, at a ceramah on Aug 24 whilst trying to buttress support for BN candidate Arif Shah Omar Shah in the by-election contest against opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim.

MCA being the usual MCA, feeling intimidated by the allegation, started to make furious calls openly demanding an apology and explanation from Ahmad.

MCA Youth has submitted a letter yesterday demanding an open apology, retraction and a promise not to make similar statements in the future while Federal Territories MCA Youth today launched a signature campaign outside the MCA headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to condemn Ahmad, demanding that he be sacked from his party.

The questions are: Is Ahmad going to apologize? Let’s presume he is going to.

If that’s the case, is he going to show the sincerity and feeling repent of his remarks hurled against the Chinese community?

Again, even if he does, MCA is fighting a non-cause as history has shown us that the similar antic will resurface in the future, it’s only a matter of time before the racial remarks will be repeated?

I can’t help but to wonder, the public protest organised by the MCA Youth to show their displeasure is the only channel for them to highlight their frustration to the big brother? Does that mean MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the rest of the ministers representing the smaller component parties have no say at all during the Cabinet meeting, hence the public dissent?

The same goes to Gerakan too. It’s acting president Koh Tsu Koon, being his ownself only can afford to say that Barisan’s defeat in the by-election is another wake up call for the ruling coalition.

What a shame, especially when he continues to show dissatisfaction and at the same time, Umno continues to ignore him at their own peril.

Why? Probably Umno knows that Tsu Koon will continue to stick together irregardless of the difficult situtation the party is being put in since Gerakan has nowhere to go! No?

Then, how about the tsunami wave of change in the recent General Election? Isn’t that a wake up call for BN too? If it’s indeed a wake up call, why BN continues to act arrogantly and takes the rakyat for granted? What is the role of Gerakan who claims to act as the Opposition within the BN in fighting to ensure that BN does wake up from the painful lesson? Is it because they’re too afraid to speak up or there isn’t any opportunity at all for them to speak up, ever since the heavy defeat suffered by most of the Gerakan candidates, including Tsu Koon himself?

Why can’t he understand Gerakan is no longer relevant, especially when former party stalwart Toh Kin Woon who is dubbed as the "Conscience of BN" left Gerakan to openly expressed his support towards the "movement led by Anwar"? What about many Gerakan leaders who had lost hope towards Gerakan and gradually deserting the party in seeking a more ideal ideology like the one practised by the Pakatan Rakyat coalition?

Nevertheless, the entire affair which have taken place so far, I’m sure, has set the minority component parties in ruling coalition into deep thinking mode on whether they still can play an effective role in building a better Malaysia for us to live in, or else, necessary reform must be taken to rejuvenate themselves before they can convince the people that they, together with their big brother Umno have indeed awaken from the disastrous outing on March 8 and the most recent by-election.

Perhaps, the high-level acceptance shown by the people towards the "People’s Government" by the PR coalition proves that Malaysians nowadays are a lot more mature than what the Government wants us to be, which means, the beginning of the death of sectarian politics long practised in this country, hence the irrelevance of racial based parties in Malaysia’s political landscape.

While the newly elected Permatang Pauh MP Anwar Ibrahim is going to be sworn in later as the MP as well as the new Opposition Leader, one of my predicament for Umno is already taking place.

Implosion within the party rallying for the resignation of their president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is already making their demand heard by the party members.

Aspiring presidential candidate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah called for a new leadership "to unite our people… and forge a clear national direction."

Mukhriz Mahathir, who is vying for the top spot in the party’s influential youth wing, also called for Abdullah’s immediate resignation.

However, the most strident salvo comes from no other than Pak Lah’s predecessor Tun Mahathir Mohamad when he asked Umno members to desert his handpicked successor or BN risks losing big time in the next General Election.

"When the 13th general election looms, the people will remove Umno and Barisan because it is the only way they can remove Abdullah… because Umno and Barisan is unwilling to act, the people would have to act," he said.

Nevertheless, Pak Lah is unperturbed although the calls for him to step down to make way for the new leadership as he is still confident that 140 parliamentary seats won in the last GE still commanded strong support from the people and the result in the Permatang Pauh by-election can’t be interpreted as a trend that can happend in other constituencies.

Call it ignorance or whatever you’d like to describe the PM, the landslide victory by PKR is going to hasten his visit from the party together with his deputy Najib Tun Razak even prior to the agreed handover plan which is expected to take place around mid-2010, that also provided that the imminent September 16 plan for a New Malaysia by the Pakatan Rakyat coalition is not going to work.

Now, it’s official that Anwar Ibrahim captures the Permatang Pauh seat with a landslide majority, the kind of victory which is going to be the common topic among the Penang folks for quite some times.

Nevertheless, it’s a very much needed moral booster for Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat in a whole to entice more MPs from the ruling coalition to defect and subsequently join the cause for a new Malaysia, which is expected to take place as soon as the coming September 16, the day which marks the joining together of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia.

Now Anwar is no longer a nobody as he is now officially the Permatang Pauh MP, going to ascend to power seat of the Opposition Leader starting from tomorrow, as soon as he manages to thrust his way to be sworn in as the MP. From there onwards, then only the talk of real defection is going to be a serious matter and Malaysians would be watching closely from the sideline and determine how many MPs are willing to go as far as taking oath to pledge their loyalty towards the BN government.

We shall see.

Of course, that’s a desperate measure to be taken by the ruling coalition, if ever there is any. However, by looking at the current situation, we can’t entirely rule out this possibility. Anyway, this is another discussion for another day.

As for now, let’s see what’s going to be the next immediate implication following the hard fought victory against the entire BN’s machinery.

Will the Gerakan party pull out from the BN coalition, followed by the MCA, MIC and the rest of the minor component parties as the dominant party Umno is very occupied with perpetuating the "Ketuanan Melayu" ideology?

Is this an indication of yet another beginning of the end for the BN era after 51 years of arbitrary domination in Malaysia’s political landscape as the results in recent General Election as well as the by-election showed that Malaysians irregardless of Malay, Chinese, Indian and etc. rejected the rule-and-divide policy long practiced by the BN?

Is this going to mark the beginning of a persistent and deep focus by the PR leaders on stitching PR coalition into a cohesive alliance to help foster a proper 2-party system in Malaysia that isn’t dependent on key personalities?

Is the result of the by-election likely going to hasten the exit of the PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi from the scenes, both the premiership as well as the Umno’s presidency as it’s apparent that Umno’s aspiring presidential candidate Tengku Razaleigh and the rest of senior Umno members who are unhappy with both his (Pak Lah) leadership and performance are waiting by the sideline and ready to drag him down?

Is the Government getting ready to launch a crackdown on bloggers next as reported by The Malaysian Insider?

Hot air rises and we’re living in very interesting times indeed, so don’t overwhelmed by the short term victory until you forget to watch your back.

[10:30pm] The Star’s SMS alert:

DPM Najib: Anwar’s victory in Permatang Pauh by-election proves democracy is very much alive in Malaysia and not manipulated.

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[10:00pm] Malaysiakini SMS alert:

Official result - Anwar Ibrahim (31,195 votes), Arif Shah Omar Shah (15,524 votes), Hanafi Hamat (92). Anwar won with majority of 15,671.

In another word, the majority won by Anwar is much more than the majority won by Wan Azizah in March 2008.

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[9:30pm] Malaysiakini SMS alert:

Official Election Commission (EC) result: With 11 more boxes to go, Anwar has won the by-election with a 14,551 majority

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Ladies and gentlemen, many thanks to our fellow anak-anak Bangsa Malaysia in Permatang Pauh, the New Malaysia is finally here!

Unofficial result indicates that PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim has won the by-election, with the majority votes speculated to be above the margins garnered by his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in March 2008 before she relinquished her seat to give way for Anwar.

Despite the phantom voters alleged by PKR and as reported by Malaysiakini, early results showed that the movement of votes does swing to the PKR’s side, leaving the BN’s candiate Arif Shah Omar Shah in lurch, after spending lavishly on sweets and tidbits to the area during and prior to the nomination day.

Earlier, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was reported by Malaysiakini to have left for Kuala Lumpur as early as 4:30pm, early signal of BN losing the battle to PKR.

Anyway, one down, another to go. The next immediate target is nothing less than the September 16.

More later.

It’s the final countdown.

A few hours down the road, voting stations in the Permatang Pauh by-election will be officially opened to the public, hence the start of another extremely critical battle which is going to determine the future of this country, the fate of a new Malaysia under the leadership of the Pakatan Rakyat’s government rather than the corrupted and ailing Barisan Nasional who has ruined this nation.

Just like what Malaysia Today’s Raja Petra Kamaruddin said in one of the rally last night when he called upon the Permatang Pauh constituents to send BN into the Indian Ocean on the other side of Penang and send UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PPP and all the BN components to hell!

Irrespective of the fear tactic perpetuated by the Umno during and prior to the campaign period to deter the rakyat to come out to vote, I’d like to urge all the eligible voters in Permatang Pauh to do the right thing, come out en-mass to the polling stations and tell the Government that enough is enough!

Use your votes to send a strong signal to the BN that it’s the beginning of the end for the ruling coalition and that we no longer believe in the rule-and-divide ideology long perpetuated by the corrupted government and what we need is nothing less than a change, in which a total change, a complete reform is what we need to revive the fortune of this country in order to secure a better future for our next generation!

We rakyat Malaysia will know by the end of the day whether the new Malaysia plan is going to see the light, whether there is new hope for this country, however for the plan to materialize, we need gallant effort from our brothers and sisters in Permatang Pauh to cast the precious vote for the PKR’s candidate Anwar Ibrahim.

My fellow anak-anak Bangsa Malaysia, let’s do the right thing, let’s take a univocal position and thrust Anwar into the Parliament, once and for all!

Bersatu kita teguh, bercerai kita roboh!

As the BN’s candidate Arif Shah Omar Shah said, August 26 is the auspicious date.

For once, I’ve to agree with him, but in another way round: The date to ‘bury’ BN, instead of KJ dreamt of how to ‘bury’ Anwar.

It’s now or never, let’s do it!

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

A few hours ago in one of the PKR’s rally, there is this interesting revelation from one of the imam of the Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan Ustaz Ramlang Porigi, who is now campaigning for the PKR’s candidate Anwar Ibrahim.

Ustaz Ramlang is one of those who witnessed Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s oath on the Quran, explaining that he is among the 9 witnesses who was ordered to become a witness to Saiful’s swearing and admitted that the oath was written by "someone up there", in which he has no idea who is the culprit.

On top of that, he said Saifu looked "happy" during the ceremony and added that the the procedure for the oath taking ceremony is wrong while urging the public to stop accusing him of playing a role in the oath taking ceremony.

Read more on Anil Netto who is reporting LIVE from Penanti and Tukar Tiub’s blog.

As a measure to spur a high turnout during the Permatang Pauh by-election on August 26 (Tuesday), Penang CM Lim Guan Eng declared the polling day for the crucial Permatang Pauh by-election, has been declared a special public holiday in Penang by the state government.

"The Penang state government has been mulling over the decision ever since the Elections Commission fixed a working day on Tuesday August 26 as polling day in defiance of public opinion that this will reduce the voter turnout." […]

"To ensure a level-playing field and fairness to all candidates, the Penang state government has decided to declare August 26, 2008 as a state public holiday."

Read his lips well, the keywords are "level-playing field". Now the immediate impediment has been eliminated by the CM, it’s time for our anak-anak bangsa Malaysia to do a national duty for all of us.

Do us a huge favor, send PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim into the Parliament, give him the benefit of doubt to deliver what he has promised so far and

Some may ask, what if he doesn’t? Simple, kick him out of the Parliament in the coming general election if he doesn’t walk the talk, afterall, this is what a true democracy is all about isn’t it? No?

But meanwhile, it’s not the time to skeptical for now and let’s give Anwar the one and the only one benefit of doubt this coming August 26 as it’s always our wish to see a strident voice from the Opposition Leader sitting right across the PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi this coming August 29 during the presentation of Budget 2009 by the Pak Lah, who is also the Finance Minister.

The beginning of a new Malaysia is looming, whether the plan is going to see the light, that’s very much dependent on the outcome of this coming by-election. Instead of seeing Anwar being buried by the Son-In-Law, I say, let’s bury him and the cronies instead, once and for all.

Learn the Nike way, let’s do it, my fellow anak-anak Bangsa Malaysia!

On Wednesday, the PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government will announce the new fuel prices on Aug 31 which will take effect on Sept 1.

Pak Lah, being famous of its flip-flop stance ever since his appointment as the fifth PM, once again live up to its reputation as the "Flip-Flop King" when the Government today decides to slash the petrol price for 15 cents, a minor drop from RM2.70 to RM2.55 per litre.

(Let’s hail the undisputed “Flip-Flop King”, but for now, let’s not digress from the main topic, we’ll leave this topic for another day!)

The new price will be effective beginning midnight, leaving this blogger as well as many other average joe out there jubilated over this latest development.

But the question is, why now since September 1 is merely about 1 week plus from now? Is Pak Lah starting to show his desperateness to garner more votes for the BN’s candidate Arif Shah Omar Shah?

The timing of the drop is so perfect as the Permatang Pauh by-election slated for next Tuesday, which is also a do-or-die for BN, especially for Pak Lah to know that if BN is to lose this battle royale, his position as the PM and plan to retire mid 2010 will be jeopardized.

Then again, how effective this apparent politically motivated move is going to swing the votes in favor of BN instead of the PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim who promised to drop 50 cents of petrol price immediately after he forms the next new Government?

My verdict: It’s going to create a slight drop of votes for Anwar, however it’s not going to be severe enough to affect Anwar’s winning chances. I’m sure Permatang Pauh’s constituents (and all Malaysians) are welcoming the move from the Government, but smart enough not to take up the bait.

As the say goes, take the money, but vote consciously. The future of this country lies in your hands and an opportunity for reform doesn’t come by everyday, so let’s focus and do not deviate from our original mission in seeking for a new Malaysia agenda.

Meanwhile, let’s put our hands together and hail our latest "Flip-Flop King", one and the only one in Malaysia!

To be frank, I was quite intrigued by the headline on The Star online when I read the title "PM unhappy with City rail services" this morning.

The Star reported that the PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took rides on the commuter and Kelana Jaya rail line from Serdang to the city centre Thursday to get a feel of the transportation problems faced by the people.

Doesn’t matter whether it’s a public stunt from his part to enhance his already diminished public perception, I’d like to  give him the benefit of doubt and applause him for putting in effort in trying to get a feel of our public transportation system,

At least, he tries.

I always believe that in order for the Government and the policymakers to understand the real public frustration towards the Government as far as the uncoordinated public transportation system is concern, nothing beats self-experience. It’s then when those who are responsible to draft a comprehensive and well-thought plan, if they’re serious in carrying out a reform and elevates the much needed service provided, they should personally experience it like what Pak Lah had done.

Nowadays, with the sharp hike in the petrol price, a lot of wage earners have no choice but to turn to public transport in order to lower their daily expenses in view of rising living cost, especially when hypocrite like the DPM Najib Tun Razak reminding us to change our lifestyle whereas they themselves were chauffeured with the police clearing the traffic for their convenience?

The fact is, Pak Lah’s "unhappy" experience is merely the tip-of-iceberg as the situation faced by the public is a daily occasion and certainly, if Pak Lah’s one-and-the-only-one experience is an "unhappy" outing, what’s more when it’s a repetitive routine for the public out there? Bad, real bad.

Anyway, as good as it might sound with the PM being seen on the camera taking a ride on the train, that’s certainly not good enough in making lip services, blank promises and what not. We, the job public are tired of the usual antics from the politicians and yet, in the end of the day, nothing is being done while the people continue to suffer.

What we hope from the Government is a well-planned and integrated public transportation system, a good alternative for us to choose from rather than being forced to pay for the RM2.70/liter of petrol and being ripped off by the toll operators, like it or not, but the real question is, do we have a choice? No!

We don’t have to look far in searching for a better public transportation system as our neighbor in down-south has set a very good example for us to learn from.

But hang on, before that, what about the RM2bil subsidy saved purportedly meant to enhance the public transportation system?

Here’s my middle finger.

It’s quite interesting to note that while Umno is facing implosion right in the place where the Permatang Pauh by-election is taking place and the departure of Gerakan stalwart Toh Kin Woon from the party, the DPM Najib Tun Razak begged Chinese and Indian communities in Permatang Pauh to "come back" to the BN’s fold.

"Do not be easily hoodwinked by the opposition promises and fall for their trickery because if we were to believe them, we will be quarrelling with each other," he said.

The ludicrous part came when he highlighted a special cabinet committee was formed to look after the well-being of the Indian community who had long complained of being marginalised by the Umno-led BN government.

Everything seem so perfect besides the fact that Najib might be a little forgetful to mention that nothing has been delivered so far, merely cheap talks and empty promises.

Hence, the question is, what’s there for Najib to beg for when it’s so tough to get one to express their support for the BN? It appears to be a shameful scenario to be in for them to be on the TV supporting BN openly.

I say, let’s make Permatang Pauh, Anwar’s home turf as the debut of a new Malaysia and the beginning of the ending for the BN empire. Many of us had done our part on March 8, it’s time for the Permatang Pauh constituents to trigger the subsequent wave of change this coming August 26.

I can’t wait no more.