Thesun 2009-04-09 Page04 Gangrenes Of Bukit Selambau

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theSun

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| THURSDAY APRIL 9 2009

It’s the will of Perak people, says Anwar by Karen Arukesamy [email protected]

PETALING JAYA: The victory of Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election on Tuesday reaffirms the will of the people of Perak to elect the leader of their choice, says Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. “Nizar’s victory shows the people support our stand to dissolve the Perak state assembly and have state election for them to decide who they want as their elected representatives,”

he told a press conference in the PKR headquarters yesterday. Anwar said there was a clear increase in the margin of Malay votes for PKR’s Bukit Selambau assemblyman S. Manikumar. “The support is very strong despite ‘attacks’ by various quarters, calling us ‘traitors’ and that we have forgotten about the Malay agenda,” said Anwar, adding that since it was a working day, many young voters were unable to return to vote. He said the Bukit Gantang by-election saw a good number of Chinese and Indian voters “courageously” coming

out to vote for PR’s PAS candidate. “I am very pleased with the level of support we received, particularly among the Chinese and managed to sustain the support of Malays despite BN’s agenda of championing Malay supremacy,” he said. “The results are a clear referendum on the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government, its divisive politics and its failure to implement any reforms since the March 8, 2008 general election,”he added. Stressing that PR had since won with increased majorities in four byelections, Anwar said: “The people are

no more ‘gullible’ and easily convinced by the claims of leaders. They vote for leaders who are consistent with their agendas.” On PR’s loss in Batang Ai, he said: “Sarawak remains a frontline for PKR and PR. We are not discouraged by the result. We are still confident of doing well in Sarawak’s next state election.” He said the irregularities in the voting procedure, including tampering of ballot boxes, cast doubt on the credibility of the Batang Ai electoral result. “We are investigating allegations that in 14 polling booths, the EC did not count the votes immediately after clos-

ing polling. Instead, they transported the ballot boxes to the polling centre by helicopters and boats.” Asked whether PR will form a shadow cabinet, Anwar said: “No. We have agreed on a special panel represented by all the three parties to oversee and monitor each ministry. The panel members will be named soon.” PKR Information chief Tian Chua later told theSun the panels had already been set up and functioning for about a year and Anwar would probably announce the names of the respresentatives before the next Parliament sitting.

‘Gangrenes’ of Bukit Selambau

Arumugam returns, explains disappearance

analysis by Himanshu Bhatt

ALOR STAR: Former Kedah executive council member V.Arumugam, who returned from India yesterday, said he had left the country because of the threat on his life and that of his family as well as the pressure on him to leave the party. “I fled to Mumbai alone to seek peace of mind and only returned after the conclusion of the byelection for Bukit Selambau as I feel the situation would have cooled down and it would be safe.” He declined to reveal who had pressured him to defect but said only by leaving the country could he escape from being a victim of circumstances. “I don’t regret giving up the two posts (state assemblyman and executive councillor) on Feb 8,” he said when met on arrival at the Sultan Abdul Halim Airport here about 3pm. His wife M. Mariyaee, 36, and youngest child, Selvanthiran, seven, were waiting for him, accompanied by a lawyer Murshidah Mustafa. Kedah State Assembly Speaker Datuk Mohd Isa Ismail, political secretary to the Kedah Mentri Besar Md Sanusi Md Nor and newly-elected Bukit Selambau assemblyman S. Manikumar were also at the airport to greet him. Arumugam had won the Bukit Selambau state seat as an Independent in the general election on March 8 last year before joining the PKR. – Bernama

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FOR years to come, an idyllic green field in Taman Ria Jaya on the suburbs of Sungai Petani will be remembered for a dramatic incident unusual for the people here. It was here that on March 23 police fired tear gas and chemical sprays into a crowd of some 3,000 people, including elderly and children, who had gathered to hear parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim speak. The PKR supremo had barely uttered his first few words when the rally, held before the official Bukit Selambau state by-election campaign period, was forcefully dispersed. Days later, a villager described how he saw people ran, some getting caught in barbed wire and thorny shrubs, some hurt by the chemical fumes. “People all over town spoke about it for days after that,” he said, smoking on his thin “cerut”. Though the police maintained that the gathering was illegal and that prior warning had been issued, the incident helped bolster bitter resentment against the Barisan Nasional (BN) for its perceived high-handedness, even before campaigning had begun. Whatever its eventual results, the Bukit Selambau by-election must be noted for the “gangrene” it exposed – both in the BN and Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The election was won by PKR’s S. Manikumar who represented PR, amassing 12,632 votes compared with the 10,229 for BN’s MIC candidate Datuk S. Ganesan. Though touted as a clean, educated entrepreneur, Manikumar had much to contend with when introduced. One can hardly

remember a time when a candidate’s selection had provoked such overtly furious response from within a party. At first glance, the criticisms appeared to stem from local party stalwarts who felt stung at being overlooked despite their long service to PKR. Seeing an absolute political novice being chosen only rubbed salt into the wounds. There were, however, deeper implications beneath these internal criticisms towards the PKR leadership’s choice. For some time now, members had complained of a “party within a party” in Kedah PKR, with certain quarters feeling marginalised. In fact, a former assistant to V. Arumugam, the assemblyman whose resignation forced the byelection, called him a “puppet” in the PAS-led Kedah government. Augustine Gnanapragasam went as far as to describe how PR state executive councillors turned a deaf ear to Arumugam’s reports, particularly on Indian problems. He even claimed to have watched Arumugam once crying in his car, as certain problems he raised in state executive council meetings were hardly being entertained. “Now, they have chosen just another person to heed their beck and call,” Augustine said of the docile and compliant Manikumar. Detractors like Augustine sneered at Kedah Mentri Besar and PAS commissioner Datuk Seri Azizan Abd Razak’s act to perform ground-breaking for a Tamil school during the height of campaigning, saying he was being hypocritical. The BN too resorted to using government machinery to offer funds and corrective developments that had been unseen

for years in some estates and kampungs. Sure, there was a euphoric reception for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the last day of campaigning but on close scrutiny, one found that the crowd in the Dewan Institut Kemahiran Mara in Sungai Petani was packed not so much with local voters as it was with BN members, many of whom were from out of town. Other BN rallies, including one by Ezam Mohd Noor, a former PKR youth chief who is now a fervent Umno supporter, drew piteously scant local audiences. But with the PR administration being so badly bruised along the way to victory, one wonders if the votes that it garnered were more anti-BN than genuinely pro-PR.

Manikumar (right) raises the hand of Arumugam as he arrives at the Sultan Abdul Halim Airport from Mumbai yesterday.

Car stolen from under her nose by Charles Ramendran [email protected]

PETALING JAYA: A secure auto gate and your presence indoors is no hindrance to car thieves. Cases of cars being stolen from houses under the noses of their owners are becoming rampant of late. Yesterday, at SS15 Subang Jaya, corporate legal adviser Soo-Hoo Siew Hoon, 35, lost her Honda Civic which was parked at the porch of her house to car thieves. Her husband was awake till 4am but both heard nothing though the thieves drove away the car in the dead silence of the night. “I only found out it was gone when I was leaving for work at 8.30am. My auto main gate was wide open and my

car missing.The car is fitted with an advanced anti-theft system including an immobiliser but the thieves managed to break into it,” she told theSun. The car she bought three years ago was worth over RM100,000, she said. Soo-Hoo, who lodged a report at the Subang Jaya police station, said the incident occurred despite security guards hired by residents patrolling the area. Subang Jaya police chief ACP Zainal Rashid said there have been many reports of cars being stolen in similar fashion and a task force is making efforts to track down the car theft syndicate. He urged owners of vehicles especially those with cars targeted by thieves to take additional precautions such as padlocking their main gates and installing a global positioning system (GPS) tracking unit in their cars.