Published August 21, 2008

Barisan plays down by-election chances

Mukhriz Mahathir sees bigger possibility in just paring opposition's majority

By LEE U-WEN
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(SINGAPORE) With just days left before a crucial by-election on Tuesday, Malaysia's ruling party has again played down its chances of preventing de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim from making his return to Parliament after a 10-year absence.

Mr Mukhriz: Dismisses as psychological warfare Anwar's claim of being able to win over more than 40 Barisan MPs

Kedah Member of Parliament Mukhriz Mahathir, the youngest son of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, told reporters yesterday that Barisan Nasional (BN) was campaigning as the underdog and would 'be quite happy' if it could reduce the opposition's majority considerably when the votes are tallied.

'Whether we can win or not, that is a big question. But the response by voters towards our own candidate is very positive. He's a local man there and speaks the lingo. I think we have a chance, perhaps a small one, to win. But otherwise, the possibility of reducing Anwar's majority is quite large,' he said.

BN has fielded candidate Arif Shah Omar Shah against the former deputy prime minister, in the hope that he can win over some or all of the 13,398-vote majority secured by Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, when she won the Permatang Pauh seat in Penang in the March 8 elections.

A third candidate, Hanafi Hamat from little-known Islamic party Angkatan Insan Keadilan Malaysia, joined the fight last week.

Mr Mukhriz described Anwar's recent claim of being able to win over more than 40 Barisan MPs to the opposition coalition in order to form a new opposition government as 'typical of him'.

'He uses a lot of psychological warfare to try and put us off balance. We don't see any of our MPs moving that way. I'm one of the more critical MPs within the National Front. I'm even critical of my own leadership and yet you don't see me jumping to the other side,' he said. With BN ready to make the final push ahead of the big day, Mr Mukhriz appealed 'to the common sense' of voters in Penang to choose carefully.

'We want them to see that there's a lot more than just picking someone who claims to be the PM-in-waiting. (The opposition) has an interesting but ineffective campaign approach, which is very aggressive. They use force, and do not really appeal to the hearts of voters. I myself was a victim of that kind of action during nomination day,' he said.

The uncertainty felt on the ground at the moment is how Malay voters, who comprise the bulk of the Permatang Pauh electorate (69.4 per cent), would react to Saiful Bukhari Azlan's swearing on the Quran that he had been sodomised by Anwar.

Still, Mr Mukhriz harboured a ray of hope that BN could somehow regain the Penang hot seat. 'A victory for us would signal the end of Anwar Ibrahim as the so-called 'prodigal son' of Permatang Pauh. If we can win, there will be a major shift in the political tsunami that is being felt at the moment,' he said.