Permatang Pauh - Here I come Penanti

After reading the daily news from bloggers and online media on the Permatang Pauh by election campaign I feel that I need to go on the ground to see it for myself.

So today ( actually it's 2am on Sunday now while I blog on this ) a Saturday and also my daughter's birthday, I started my journey to Penanti to see what is happening on the ground. I told my daughter to go out with her friends and celebrate her birthday for I am not going to cook today.

I started from Penang Island at 6 pm and cross the Penang bridge and saw the widening of the bridge was in progress. No jam on the side heading towards the mainland but there was a long Que on the other side heading to the Island.

I am not sure where Penanti is exactly but I head towards Permatang Pauh which I presume will leads me to Penanti. There are signs to all various towns but I could not find the sign to Penanti. But no worry, there are so many PKR stalls everywhere and I make no less then 8 times asking for the direction to Penanti.

As I zig zag my way to Penanti I can see PKR stalls at almost every KM and on both sides of the road. The road were jam for a few km on both sides and I do not know why. At every PKR stalls you can see 4 or 5 people distributing leaflets and PKR newsletters to the slowed down vehicles. I pick up quite a few along the way.

I still could not find the location of the ceramah and it was almost 7:30pm. So I decided to stop at one of the malay stall to have my dinner. After dinner and about 8pm I continue my search for the exact location of the ceramah. Finally after 3 more stops at the PKR stalls I manage to reach the location and by then it was 9pm.

The location of the ceramah is at Padang Awam ,Taman Guar Perahu, Penanti. The open field was quite big and tonight is the pasar malam night with stalls running along side the open field. I was shock to see only about 100 or so people hanging around and it is already pass 9pm.

I read from din merican blog that Raja Petra and others will be there but I could not find them. I ask one of the PKR member and he was not so sure whether they will be there. I then check with him what will be the result and he quite frankly told me, "The Chinese and the Indians votes are more or less secured but a little worried about the malay votes." Seeing the turnout at that time convince me that the malay votes may still be undecided.

I wonder around and buy some tidbits from the stall to pass time and chat with a few malays. For them they are sure Anwar will win but they cannot ascertain the majority. A few came from other areas to support the ceramah.

The crowd slowly start to grow and I estimated about a thousand when the ceramah begins. The first two speakers were from PAS, Ustaz Dr. Haron Din and YB Tuan Guru Abd Hadi Awang. By 10:30pm the crowd had swell to around 4 thousand and people are still flowing in from all directions. The final estimate just before I left at 11:50pm is 8 thousand people.

As usual the helicopter hover around the open field for three rounds before fading away at 11:00pm. Anwar arrive at about 11:30pm.

A brief on the ceramah talk. Although 98 % of the 8 thousands turnout are malays, the speakers never fail to mention about the Chinese and the Indians and DAP. The main points are about Anwar's sodomy charges, the swearing by Saiful and Najib. PKR naik president even stress further on CM Lim Guan Eng going to prison because of trying to help a malay rape victim.

As usual Anwar is the man of the hour and he gives his usual hard hitting points against the corrupted umno.

I leave 10 minutes early to avoid the expected traffic jam upon the ceramah conclusion. I drive round the housing estate and pass by another ceramah but by BN. It was held inside a house compound and I can see there were not more then 20 people.

As I drove home you could not believe what I saw. Many PKR stalls were still open at busy point of the road and these young men and women were still standing there distributing the leaflets and newsletter. By the time I passes by them it was already pass midnight. They were very energetic and I only hope that the voters of Permatang Pauh must not fail them and should Anwar wins he must show some appreciation to them.

Tomorrow night or rather tonight another big ceramah will be held at Bandar Perda. I understand Nik Aziz will be there plus our Chief Minister YB Lim Guan Eng. So if you can make it, try to go and lend your support.