Permatang Pauh - MCA & Gerakan invisible?

Strangely, in the Permatang Pauh by-election where political analysts have said would depend on the crucial (deciding) votes of the non-Malays, there seems to be very low key presence of MCA, Gerakan and MIC, let alone the PPP.

As reported by Malaysiakini in Permatang Pauh enters the final lap one gathers the picture that the mentioned BN component parties appear not to be pulling their fair share of the weight in the campaigning.

This has been in stark contrast to the high profile presence of the DAP in support of Anwar Ibrahim. There’s again the hint that Lim may declare a public holiday for this coming Tuesday to ensure Pakatan supporters will have the opportunity to vote.

Just a digressing note – Declaring Tuesday 26th August as a one-off public holiday for the by-election was raised initially by Lim GE sometime ago, but was then subsequently dismissed by him when he said he and Anwar agreed that would not be advisable.

Does this re-evocation of the public holiday proposal signal a worrying concern in the Pakatan’s camp, that every Pakatan resource must be summoned upon to ensure that Anwar wins in Permatang Pauh?

Back to the issue of the BN 'nons' – Malaysiakini reported that the efforts of the BN Chinese-based parties like MCA and Gerakan in Permatang Pauh have been rather muted. Would their feeble contributions compromise Arif Shah’s chances?

It seems MCA president Ong Ka Ting will only be arriving for the first time to campaign, when the PM and Najib have already been there.

And Koh TK just has to choose the incorrect timing to debate with Lim GE, where no doubt his abysmal performance (not that I can blame him on this – how the hell was he going to defend the indefensible?) will surely heighten the dodgy-ness of the BN, as well as the subordinate role of the Gerakan (despite Koh’s CM-ship) in the governing of Penang.

Worse, Gerakan’s grassroots have not been happy at all with the way UMNO had treated its coalition partners, culminating in Dr Toh Kin Woon’s resignation and deliberate public approval of Anwar Ibrahim.

The Gerakan members had voiced their wish to leave the coalition, and this was embarrassingly evident when Gerakan Wanita chief made a dumbo diplomatic debacle vis-à-vis its UMNO Taikoh, which Malaysiakini reported in its news item 'I voiced it, but I don't support it'.

Tan Lian Hoe made a fool of herself by first urging her party to leave the BN coalition because of UMNO’s racial politics (as reported by the media), and then denying that she had made that call.

Her denial was made just a day after she was reported as making that ‘daring’ call, She explained that she was merely voicing out the concerns of the grassroots but did not support the call made by the Perak Gerakan delegates during a conference on Sunday.

Mind you, UMNO hasn’t helped MCA and Gerakan much by ‘… harping on Anwar’s call for the abolition of the New Economic Policy’, obviously to frighten the Malay voters.

Such UMNO disregard for the feelings of the nons would invariably invite inevitable backlash from non-Malay voters in Permatang Pauh.

However, if Lim GE now sees fit to announce a public holiday on Tuesday, after having said he won't, it would indicate that Pakatan is having deep concerns over the balloting outcome.

Maybe the MCA and Gerakan have been working in deep cover - wakakaka!