Still King of the Hills

Pakatan Rakyat has captured both the hills with its candidates in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau chalking up an enviable majority.

In Bukit Gantang, the opposition coalition fielded ousted Perak menteri besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, who was unceremoniously shown the exit after Barisan Nasional staged a political coup in February.

The victory, with an increased majority, would serve as a vindication of sorts for the PAS leader since the contest was touted as a referendum on the BN takeover.

Mohd Nizar was branded as a traitor by Umno for questioning the decision of the sultan with regards to the takeover. He was also accused of being a stooge of the Chinese-dominated DAP.

However, the by-election results clearly indicate that both these issues had little impact on the voters.

In Kedah's Bukit Selambau, PKR had blazed ahead in almost all the non-Malay areas with the exception of the predominantly Indian area of Bukit Lembu.

Despite fielding greenhorn S Manikumar, Pakatan still managed to edge out veteran MIC politician S Ganesan and a record number of 13 indepedents.

As the results began to pour in, MIC leaders could already smell defeat in the air and closed down their operations centre by 7.30pm.

Fourth defeat in a row

Tonight's victories mark the fourth by-election which has swung in favour of Pakatan since the March 8 general election.

The most prominent being Permatang Pauh for it marked the return of Anwar Ibrahim into active politics and paved the way for him to become opposition leader.

Observers also viewed the Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau contests as a referendum on the appointment of Najib as the sixth premier.

Any hopes that Najib's ascension in place of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - who was blamed for previous electoral defeats - would turnaround the fortunes of BN were also dashed by voters.

Bukit Selambau was also crucial for MIC and its president of 11 terms S Samy Vellu. Speculations are rife that the pressure might mount on the veteran politician to step down with the defeat.

Another interesting point is that the results somewhat also confirmed that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad no longer commands the influence he once enjoyed.

With hours to go before voting, the 83-year-old statesman had hit the campaign trail in order to ensure victory for the BN candidates.

BN leaders had also proclaimed that Mahathir's presence was surely to have an impact.

In the end, voter sentiments had prevailed over the mighty BN machinery and larger-than-life personalities.

A little consolation however would be the fact that the ruling coalition managed to keep the Batang Ai state seat in Sarawak.

Then again, that was a done deal from the start.