Malaysia Votes

The crowd outside the Han Chiang Indoor Stadium in Penang on March 1 who lapped up Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sterling performance as an orator.

By Jacqueline Ann Surin
jacquelinesurin@malaysiavotes.com

PENANG: “I am very confident the people of Penang will take the lead in toppling the Barisan Nasional (BN) government,” Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim declared to boisterous cheers from the crowd.

The former deputy premier and current de facto leader of opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) wasn’t just massaging the ego of the close to 10,000-strong crowd that had gathered to hear him speak at a DAP-PKR ceramah on the Saturday night of March 1.

The multi-racial group of people who packed into the Han Chiang Indoor Stadium on Jalan Lim Lean Teng, and who spilled out into the open spaces around the stadium, would have cheered for Anwar in any case.

So strong is his star attraction as an accomplished orator, and more so as a former Umno leader who would have made it as prime minister if not for his unceremonious 1998 fall from power, out on sodomy and corruption charges, that half an hour after the ceramah began at 8pm, people were still rushing towards the stadium.

For certain, it wasn’t just Anwar who pulled in Penangites on that evening. It was the first time both the DAP and PKR – who have teamed up to regain a stronger opposition foothold in Penang – were on stage together. The other attractions for the night were DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng who is contesting in Bagan (P43), DAP national chairman Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor, P51), DAP newcomer and popular blogger Jeff Ooi (Jelutong, P50), and upcoming DAP leader Liew Chin Tong (Bukit Bendera, P48).

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By Danny Lim
dannylim@malaysiavotes.com

KOTA BHARU: Where Kelantanese Malays can’t stop offering their opinions on politics, regardless of whether they’re asked, the Chinese community here is rather reticent, even when pushed.

In a vastly Malay state, Chinese voters make up no more than 5% of the electorate in all but three parliamentary constituencies: Kota Bharu, Gua Musang and Kuala Krai. The largest bloc predictably lies in urban Kota Bharu with 17.9%, wherein lies the state seat of Kota Lama which is the only one in Kelantan with Chinese candidates contesting.

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Samy Vellu at the Sri Mariamman Temple in Taman Dovenby. Photos by Cindy Tham.

By Cindy Tham
cindytham@malaysiavotes.com

SUNGAI SIPUT: The Sri Mariamman Temple in Taman Dovenby here was a hive of activity on March 5, as devotees carrying the kavadi made the journey on foot from several kilometres outside the Dovenby Plantation to the temple located within its grounds.

The musicians filled the jasmine and incense scented air with loud rhythmic music as the devotees and their entourage walked and danced their way to the temple. They bore the kavadi, which literally means burden or sacrifice at every step, in supplication for divine blessings.

The temple committee members stood at the temple gates as the devotees marched through. But there was another reason they were at the gates that fateful afternoon: they were awaiting the arrival of MIC president and Sungai Siput parliamentary seat incumbent Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

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By Farish A. Noor

The Islam Hadhari theme park in Kuala Trengganu is no ordinary children’s playground. Photos by Danny Lim.

THE merry-go-round is painted in bright hues of pink, yellow, green and blue; the slides and rides shine in the sun as the little girl contemplates which of the two plastic horses to mount first. Her mother sits by the swing in the near distance, her eye firmly fixed on the pride of five boys and girls frolicking around the sand pit and climbing ropes.

It would appear like any other children’s playground in any other suburban setting, save for the fact that the plastic palm trees are there to lend the place a somewhat exotic, middle-eastern feel: Welcome to the kiddies playground in the Islamic Civilisation theme park, one of the latest innovations bestowed upon the people of the state of Trengganu in Malaysia, as part and parcel of the Malaysian government’s attempt to promote its brand of Islam Hadhari (Civilisational Islam).

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By Danny Lim
dannylim@malaysiavotes.com

KOTA BHARU: PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa has claimed that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) own assessment of voter sentiments in Kelantan revealed that PAS has the edge in at least 26 out of 45 state seats and 10 out of 14 parliamentary seats. However, the Kota Bharu Umno division chief secretary Zulkifli Mustafa questioned the reliability of the information and said the BN would win in Kelantan.

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