ANWAR CLAIMS LANDSLIDE VICTORY

PERMATANG PAUH, Aug 26: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has won the Permatang Pauh by-election with a massive majority of 15,671 votes, topping the other two candidates in the count in all polling centres.

The opposition leader"s thumping victory of 31,195 votes to 15,524 garnered by the Barisan Nasional"s Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah was achieved despite just 65.25% of voters casting their ballots compared with 81.2% during the March 8 general election.

Third candidate Hanafi Mamat of Kelantan-based Parti Keadilan Insan Malaysia (Akim) received 92 votes and lost his deposit.

Former MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail"s majority in the March general election was 13,398 votes, meaning Anwar has succeeded in increasing PKR"s majority. Earlier exit polls by both PKR and BN had not foreseen such a huge majority.

Anwar thanked everyone who contributed to his campaign after the returning officer had made the official announcement of his victory and proceeded to meet an estimated 50,000 supporters who had gathered outside the Tuanku Bainun Teachers Training Institute counting centre.

Appearing as if in pain but still smiling, the 61-year-old former deputy prime minister walked up and waved to the thousands around him, who began to sing the national anthem -Negaraku- and also shouted -Merdeka- repeatedly.

Earlier, Arif Shah had defiantly claimed that it was not a defeat.

-At least we know that Permatang Pauh still gives us support of 15,000 votes,- he said, insisting that his goal was always to win, not just reduce the margin of defeat, which he also failed to do.

He blamed his defeat on voters being attracted to the opposition"s -propaganda, promises and innuendoes-.

The BN"s campaign chief, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, graciously congratulated Anwar on his victory and called on him to -contribute to the country"s wellbeing and respect healthy democratic principles-.

-As I said from the outset, we were the underdogs,- he said. -His votes are similar to his wife, just an increase of 847 votes while BN votes slipped by 1,426. We will review our weaknesses.-

Wan Azizah had vacated the seat on July 31 to make way for her husband Anwar to contest in the by-election in what was thought to be a mere formality.

Anwar was barred from political office until April 14 this year, missing the March 8 general election by a hair. Wan Azizah held the seat for three terms and was said to be his proxy.

Anwar had been a hugely popular MP in the constituency before her, from 1982 until his high-profile sacking from the BN government in 1999 following Sodomy 1 and accusations of corruption that landed him in prison for six years.

The decision to run in Permatang Pauh came after allegations of sodomy by former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan which had resulted in the former deputy prime minister's arrest on July 16.

Anwar was charged in court for Sodomy II on Aug 7, but unlike a decade ago, he was released on bail and proceeded to begin his campaign immediately in Permatang Pauh even though nomination was on Aug 16.

One day before nomination, Saiful swore on the Quran in the Federal Territory mosque that his sodomy claims were true.

Courtesy of Malaysian Insider

ANWAR ATTRACTS MORE SUPPORTERS

PERMATANG PAUH, Aug 24 - Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim faces a crucial election next week, seeking a victory that could put him in striking distance of Malaysia's premiership and help him fend off a sodomy charge that threatens his political career.

Every night, thousands of supporters turn out here among the rice fields and industrial parks of northern Malaysia as Anwar campaigns for a parliamentary seat in a by-election Tuesday.

At rally after rally, Anwar stirs the crowds with vows to topple the National Front government and pursue an agenda of political and economic overhauls.

The charismatic Anwar is widely viewed as the only Malaysian politician who can unite a broad alliance of opposition parties and attract voters who are increasingly alienated from the National Front.

In March, the coalition he heads won almost half the total popular vote and came within 30 seats of toppling the government in national elections.

That prospect has rattled the National Front, which has ruled Malaysia for almost 51 years, but has seen its popularity wane in recent months amid internal bickering and a slowing economy in this resource-rich Southeast Asian country of 27 million.

The by-election campaign has taken on a sharp edge because Anwar is also fighting a sodomy charge filed against him earlier this month by state prosecutors, who say he broke Malaysian law by having sex with a male aide -- an allegation the 61-year-old father of six calls "preposterous" and politically motivated.

His pending prosecution makes it is possible that Anwar, who is free on bail while awaiting trial, could win next week's election only to lose his seat if he is later convicted of sodomy.

That hasn't stopped the National Front from deploying its biggest guns to Permatang Pauh to campaign against Anwar. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, for example, has portrayed Anwar as a power hungry politician who is willing to say anything to get elected, while denying the government has anything to do with the sodomy charge against him.

Despite the National Front's attacks, most political analysts expect Anwar to comfortably win in the predominantly Muslim Permatang Pauh constituency where he grew up and where his wife previously held the parliamentary seat that is being contested.

Anwar's government-backed opponent, Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah, attracts much smaller audiences at his rallies and spends much of his time in meetings with his entourage of campaign workers. He declined to be interviewed for this article.

The size of Anwar's expected triumph will be watched closely, however; should he poll fewer votes than his wife did, the National Front would trumpet the result as a moral victory. In an interview, Anwar acknowledges he needs a convincing win "to send the message that there is a strong alternative agenda to that of the government."

Getting elected could prove to be an easier task for Anwar than maneuvering his unwieldy opposition alliance into power -- even if he manages to avoid being convicted of sodomy.

Anwar leads a diverse and sometimes fragile opposition alliance that cuts across Malaysia's fractious multiethnic society of Malays, Chinese and Indians. It includes the left-leaning, mostly ethnic-Chinese Democratic Action Party and the Malay-centered fundamentalist Parti Islam, known as Pas, as well as Anwar's own secularist People's Justice Party.

That is a potentially unstable mix in Malaysia, where about 60% of the population consists of Malay Muslims, who are often wary of the country's large non-Muslim minorities.

Once a firebrand Islamic student leader, Anwar has since nurtured a reputation as a thoughtful moderate, committed to democratic principles and free-market economics.

"Anwar is the glue that binds the opposition alliance together," says Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, an anthropology professor at the National University of Malaysia.

"He's the only one who can bring these disparate groups together in protest. And that's why his opponents are ready to knock him down at any cost."

Still, Anwar concedes that the opposition alliance still needs work to bind it firmly together. Of particular concern is Pas. While the conservative Islamist party's leadership frequently repeats its support for Anwar and the opposition alliance, some Pas members worry that a potential Anwar-led government will be too secular and give too big a voice to non-Malays.

Meanwhile, Anwar's election campaign is making the most of his image as a political martyr and would-be scourge of Malaysia's establishment.

In 1998, the politician was sacked from the government as he prepared to challenge then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the premiership.

He was later arrested, beaten by Malaysia's national police chief and jailed for six years on sodomy and other charges in what Anwar contends was a political conspiracy to end his career.

Malaysia's highest court overturned Anwar's sodomy conviction in 2004. Dr. Mahathir has denied there was a political conspiracy. - Asian Wall Street Journal