Permatang Pauh Results: Margin of Win for Anwar Ibrahim GREATER than Wife Wan Azizah's in March Election

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Go to Malaysia-Today for detailed breakdown of the results


(Image courtesy of Mob's Crib)

FINAL Results

PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT: 31,195

BARISAN NASIONAL : 15,524

Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia: 92

MAJORITY: 15,671

VOTER TURN-OUT: 81%

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has won the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat with a majority of 15,671 votes.

The Election Commission announced that Anwar polled 31,195 votes while his Barisan Nasional opponent, Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah received 15,524.

Hanafi Hamat of Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia (Akim), who contested as an independent lost his deposit, polling only 92 votes.

Total of 38,144 voters cast their ballots in the Permatang Pauh by-election today, accounting for 65.25% of the 58,459 registered voters in the constituency at the close of polling centres at 5pm.

Anwar's wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, won the seat with a 13,388 majority at the March 8 general elections with a bigger turnout of voters than in the current by-election.

We Say to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,

The people of Permatang Pauh had spoken on behalf of concerned Malaysians from all over the country.

Their prayers and ours have been answered.

The Muslims prayed in their mosques for your victory.

The Christians prayed in their churches for your victory.

The Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists prayed in their temples for your victory.

Other Malaysians prayed in their respective holy of holies for your victory.

So are the Atheists, who had burnt their brains out for your victory.

You should now go forth to do your part, to fulfill their hopes, their dreams and their aspirations of an integrated community of Malaysians united by the diversity of their religion, sex and ethnicity.

You should now go forth to bring about a Better Malaysia where there is only one Anak Bangsa Malaysia.

You owe this sacred call of duty to each and every Malaysian who gave his/her all for your victory today.

With that, we congratulate you on your great victory in this crucial by-election.
-Malaysian Unplug

COMMENTARY

From Dominic Pillai a/l R.K. Pillai: Read here in Malaysian Bar Council website

This may very well be the defining moment in our nation's history.

Almost 6 months has passed since the 2008 General Elections and the ruling coalition has done absolutely nothing positive to regain our trust and confidence.

Anwar promises to be the solution to a "nation with no captain" and to "a ship dead in the water".

Although I was initially against the idea of MPs jumping ship to form a new government, but based on BN's performance over the last 6 months, I feel we may have no choice.

Anwar is right when he says that Malaysia cannot wait anorther 4 years for a new government. By then damage to our country may be irreversible.

The government has done nothing in the last 6 months to restore the public's confidence in the judiciary and most of us are very dissapointed that the de facto Law Minister has been all talk but no action. To be fair to him I doubt the present government has the political will to carry out any meaningful reform.

20 years since the 1988 judicial crisis and we still haven't undone the damage to our judiciary. I am afraid our already fragile judiciary may not be able to take the onslaught of a 2nd "win at all cost" Anwar trial.

Anwar on the other hand promises the much needed reform. Being a victim of all that is wrong with our present system, I am sure he will keep his word.

Malaysia needs Anwar in Putrajaya sooner than later.

So voters of Permatang Pauh, we thank you for your courage.

May we soon see a better Malaysia.

- Dominic Pillai a/l R.K. Pillai

PERMATANG PAUH TO PUTRAJAYA

From MarGeeMar Blog: Read here

Excerpts:

The country has been in turmoil since the general elections on March 8, when the BN/Umno regime lost the two-thirds parliamentary majority it enjoyed for 51 years.

UMNO, the dominant party in the Barisan Nasional (National Front) Coalition has been engaged in a furious internal struggle, with Mahathir accusing Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi of wrecking the economy and the political structure of the party itself.

Rampant corruption abetted by a civil service that is virtually an extension of the BN/Umno regime has caused the country Billions of Dollars. The practice of cronyism and nepotism that has been inherited by the Badawi regime from the Mahathir regime had only made the country's social, economical and political situation more chronic.

This is not helped either by imbecile statements and policies of PM Badawi and his ministers like Home Minister Hamid Albar and the arrogance of his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, who himself has his own designs for the Prime Ministership when Badawi makes his exit.

After charges were laid against the former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamed, for rigging the judiciary for political reasons, he furiously quit the party and has since engaged in an effort to bring down Badawi.

Badawi's 'anointed' deputy Najib Razak himself is fighting a credibility crisis especially with the Altantuya murder case. All these has sapped the morale of the government and resulted in a descending stock market. Concerns over inflation.

The magnitude of the loss raises further questions about Abdullah Badawi and whether there will be more political instability. UMNO nominations start next month. Given questions over Badawi's leadership, the rising prices of energy and food have contributed to the souring of voter opinion on the Barisan.

Widespread charges of corruption, particularly over the fixing of judicial posts, also contributed to the malaise.

For this reason, the People of Malaysia are looking to Anwar Ibrahim to deliver this Nation that 51 years of BN/Umno rule has brought it to the brink of the Abyss.

The Rakyat (People), after a Long March, are now knocking at the Gates of Putrajaya.

A MERDEKA UPSIDE DOWN?

From Dr Azy Rahman: Read here

Excerpts

After 51 years of UMNO-BN Government, what do we have?

1. An irate prime minister mulling action against a blogger for flying the Malaysian flag upside-down in cyberspace;
   
   
2. A by-election campaign in Pematang Pauh in Penang, that shows up the ugliness of smear campaigns focusing on race, religion, and personal issues instead of presenting solutions to national crises;
   
   
3. An aborted Bar Council forum on conversion to Islam, disrupted by groups claiming to represent the survival and dignity of Malaysian Muslims;
   
   
4. An angry Vice-Chancellor of an all-bumiputera university threatening to sue the chief minister of Selangor for the latter's suggestion that Universiti Teknologi MARA be opened to non-bumiputera;
   
   
5. A teacher in Selangor reprimanded and transferred for hurling racial slurs at her Malaysian school-children of Indian origin;
   
   
6. The continuing and intensified work of the prime minster's propaganda outfit, Biro Tata Negara, in ensuring that the ideology of Ketuanan Melayu remains funneled into the minds of Malay students, educators, and civil servants;
   
   
7. The continuing refusal of the Ministry of Higher Education to grant freedom to students to gain concepts and skills of political consciousness by its refusal to radically revise the University and University Colleges Act;
   
   
8. An increasingly cacophonic and toxic relationship between the Executive, Judiciary, and Legislative as a consequence of the 22-year rule of the previous Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad;
   
   
9. A hyper-modernised country trapped in the excesses of nationalism and globalisation at a time when the global food and energy crisis is taking a toll on the economic and political lives of nations.

The Losers

Read here in Malaysian Insider

Excerpts:

The LOSERS from the Permatang Pauh By-Election

- Umno

The charade is over. This is a party without spirit. This is a party without a leader.

Ministers, deputy ministers and other senior party officials all campaigned in Permatang Pauh but it was more out of duty than anything else. There was no fire in their bellies. Some could not care less how Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah performed in the polls. They showed up in the constituency to canvass for support in the upcoming divisional elections in October.

One former menteri besar, eyeing a top position in the party, holed up in a hotel and dished out cash to streams of divisional officials.

This is a party made of politicians who are consumed with their OWN interest and completely detached from reality.

This could be the beginning of the end of this once powerful party.


- The Barisan Nasional machinery

There was a time when the Opposition used to shudder at the prospect of facing the formidable machinery, the women who used to campaign tirelessly from dusk to dawn, the men who braved the elements to tear down Opposition posters and ferry voters to the polling station.

Not anymore.

Dispirited, they just did the bare minimum in Permatang Pauh.

In fact, it was the Pakatan Rakyat machinery which caught the eye. Their workers displayed the spirit of volunteerism which was once patented by the BN. How the mighty have fallen.


- Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

He was not in charge of the BN by-election team but the president of Umno and the chairman of the BN will not be able to absolve himself of blame for this dismal showing.

The unvarnished fact is that he has not been able to inspire his party or the ruling coalition since March 8.

If his party workers are listless, it is because they do not see him as a general capable of galvanising the troops in the face of an enemy's onslaught. If his coalition partners are feeble, it is because they do not see him as a leader capable of reviving the BN.

In all likelihood, there will be calls for him to speed up the transfer of power.


- Najib Razak

Without a doubt, the deputy prime minister is hurting.

The uninterrupted stream of attacks on his character, his wife and allegations that he was involved with the murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shariibuu have damaged him in the eyes of the public.

His words once used to carry weight but now they ring hollow. His decision to swear in a mosque that he was not involved with Altantuya did not find popular support. Still, he remains best placed to take over from Abdullah.

But he will need much repair to his image before he can claim to have the support of Malaysians.

- Saiful Bukhari Azlan

He claimed it was a coincidence but his decision to swear on the Quran on the eve of nomination day that he was sodomised by Anwar does not look very clever now.

A snap poll of 544 Malay voters by the Merdeka Centre painted him as a pawn in a political game.

He should stay out of the limelight till the trial begins.