According to Malaysiakini, Anwar Ibrahim has already started campaigning unofficially but right now, he's looking to contest on the Kulim seat.
But a week ago, it was eeny meany miny mo for him. It was something that makes people guessing. He was juggling on contesting either in Kulim, Permatang Pauh or Bandar Tun Razak.
The power base in Permatang Pauh is quite strong for PKR and if Azizah simply relinquishes the seat, you can bet that BN will do all it can to take the seat away from PKR - spending millions and millions. That seat is counted as indispensable thing.
It is also a waste to throw Bandar Tun Razak away. Khalid Ibrahim was quite fortunate to win that seat by 2000 + votes. But the concern here is that Anwar might not be familiar with the people there and even Tan Chai Ho lost the seat, support for him is still popular since he has been helping a lot of people there. To relinquish and then contesting there is a risky case since Anwar's effort ends with nothing if he simply loses there.
Let's remember that the MPs crossing over wants him to win a Parliamentary seat first.
So that's why Kulim is the safe bet. Just take a look at the above screenshot of Google Maps. Geographically speaking, Bukit Mertajam is between Permatang Pauh and Kulim. And the distance is about 20-30 kms from Permatang. Kulim is noted to be an industrial park area where Intel has setup a base there. It is also part of the so called NCER that Dollah Badawi has put into. Since he has spoken to investors on economy and investment, Anwar might indicate them to set up shop at Kulim.
Let's say if the Election Court declares the Kulim seat null, chances are the BN candidate would of course be the same one Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir, Kadir's brother. It would be a double whammy for him: non Malay voters are very angry over his remarks 8 years ago saying that he wanted 'to burn the Chinese down' there. See my fellow Ipoh man James' posting on Aziz here. The Chinese assembly hall does not want him there.
Even if The Riding MP wins the case, he would gladly give way for him to take over. Support for PKR in Kulim is at high for non-Malays, which is likely to form the 33% percent of the votes.
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