Pengkalan Pasir by-election: not to benefit the constituency, but to prove a point
M.G.G.Pillaipillai@streamyx.com
The National Front (BN) set the pace for the by-election of the Pengkalan Pasir state seat in Kelantan. It can because it owns the media. PAS has fallen into a trap. But it is the National Front through UMNO that is fighting tooth and nail to wrest the seat which it had lost in the general election by a mere 56 votes.
The by-election is the result of the death of the PAS state assemblyman. The main problem for UMNO is that its man is Dato' Annuar Musa, head of the state UMNO party. He has many minuses to his credit, which is why the by-election is conducted by UMNO bigwigs from elsewhere in the country. He is at loggerheads with other UMNO wannabe leaders, including a federal former minister, Dato' Mustapa Mohamed.
