I refer to the Malaysiakini report Najib: Permatang Pauh tough for BN.

I read with interest the impending by-election in Permatang Pauh where finally Anwar Ibrahim will slug it out with a candidate to be nominated by the Barisan Nasional.

Already, the press is making Anwar to be the Goliath and the BN - for once - will be playing the uncharacteristic role of David.

As in any by-election, the might of the BN election machinery will be concentrated and focused in one area. The people in Permatang Pauh will soon get to see VVIPs practically living among them and bringing lots of development funds which had previously been hard to get.

Almost instantaneously, these will be made available. I am sure the people are silently thankful for any by-election regardless who wins.

It has been reported that pouring in millions of ringgit worth of development funds to ensure a victory for a candidate is morally wrong but legally it is not.

Just ask the people in Ijok and they will tell you they basked in the limelight and enjoyed the massive development and attention given to them in the weeks prior to the by-election there in 2007.

For this coming by-election, a political observer was quoted as saying that Permatang Pauh was Anwar's safest bet to get ‘instant access to Parliament’ but with the whole BN machinery focusing on it, Anwar may not have it easy.

He further dismissed talk that the BN candidate - whoever he may be - would be wiped out and that BN doesn't send out sacrificial lambs.

However, I beg to differ. The BN had indeed sent out a sacrificial lamb to take on the DAP candidate for the Seremban by-election in 1983.

The by-election arose when the then MCA president Lee San Choon resigned from his seat after having narrowly defeated the incumbent Dr Chen Man Hin of the DAP in the 1982 general election.

Even before the BN could savour the fruits of a hard-fought victory, they found themselves having to fight a by-election due to Lee San Choon's sudden resignation. The BN was in disarray.

After having wrested the seat from the opposition, they could not explain why the MCA president chose to resign.

Nobody high up in the MCA hierarchy was willing to offer themselves as a candidate and eventually the party nominated a leader from its Wanita division to stand against Chen. Even with the then deputy prime minister Musa Hitam campaigning for her, it was a mismatch all the way.

Now coming to the Permatang Pauh by-election, it seems like only Mohamed Ezam Mohd Nor and perhaps the defeated candidate in the March 8 general election have expressed any interest in contesting.

I am sure other aspiring Umno candidates would not want to cut their teeth against someone like Anwar.

The next few days should be interesting and the electorate in Permatang Pauh can be assured of massive development projects being implemented in the weeks to come.