COMMENT On May 19 last year, MP for Padang Serai N Gobalakrishnan turned up at a madrasah in Permatang Pauh for a ceremony in which PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim was guest of honour.

Present were Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Deputy CM Mansor Othman and state minister for religion Abdul Malik Abul Kassim.

Though Gobala, as he is commonly referred to, was a late arrival, his entry did not go unheralded. The emcee duly acknowledged his presence and applause rippled through the crowd as Gobala took his seat in the row behind VIPs Anwar, Lim, Mansor and Malik.

After Lim had presented the Penang government's RM1.7 million in aid to 19 religious schools whose representatives were present to receive their cheques, and after the speeches by the VIPs were over, a simple lunch was served.

Lunch over, Gobala was seen dismissing his driver as he joined Anwar in the latter's car for what was presumably a tete-a-tete on the way to the next function in the PKR supremo's visit to Penang that day...