The much-anticipated ceramah face-off  last night between PKR de facto chief Anwar Ibrahim and Ummi Hafilda Ali was a hit with the crowd, though it may not have achieved its intended objectives.

NONE In what was seen as a tactical move to scuttle Anwar's influence on the by-election's ceramah circuit, BN announced at the 11th hour that Ummi Hafilda would be speaking at a ceramah in Rumpun Makmur - at the same time the latter would deliver his own ceramah.

The announcement lifted eyebrows among journalists, as BN's campaign venue is just across the road from where Pakatan Rakyat's spot was set up, making it a potential flashpoint with just the road separating supporters from both sides.

It was an unusual set-up, as this was possibly the first time ceramah from two competing parties were allowed to run at the same time in such close proximity.

The night started out loud, with both sides blasting Nasyid and religious music through their loud speakers, though the BN came close to drowning out the competition with bigger concert-standard speakers.

The emcees from both camps made the periodic jibe in between announcements, but they did make the effort to repeatedly remind the crowd to remain civil and ignore the taunts from the other side.

Ummi Hafilda was first off the block, starting her speech at about 10pm by introducing Umno's number one enemy as al-Sheikh al-Anwar al-Juburi - a snide reference to his alleged homosexuality - to snickers from the 300-strong crowd assembled at the BN camp.

Ummi's siren song of hate

NONE From there, she went on a tirade of Anwar's "sins", recounting her version of events that led to the former deputy prime minister's sacking from the government in 1998.

Ummi Hafilda (left ) attacked Anwar for his alleged sordid affair with PKR deputy president Azmin Ali's wife, Shamsidar Taharin, before launching a blitz against Anwar's alleged penchant for sodomy.

She went to the extent of telling the crowd Anwar's alleged apparent preference for lelaki jambu , or pretty boys, counting her brother Azmin, Rahimi Osman, who said he was forced to sign two statutory declarations related to Anwar's on-going sodomy trial, and Anwar's alleged sodomy victim Saiful Bukhari Azlan, as clear examples of this.

Ummi Hafilda also accused Anwar of using Islam to hide his true nature as "the father of all corruption", claiming that the nation had lost billions to his scheming and siphoning of the nation's wealth over the 16 years he served as a minister.

"Anwar is a thief, a serial rapist and a chronic sodomite," she declared, to cheers from the assembled crowd.

No match for Anwar ' s oratory

Ummi Hafilda, however, appeared to falter 10 minutes into her ceramah, when Anwar finally went up to the rostrum to address some 700 people gathered to listen to him speak.

NONE She fell silent for a moment when Anwar  ( right ) started with a prayer, and tried to regain her momentum by saying that the Prophet Muhammad will not accept a betrayer like him - all while Anwar was still reciting the prayer with the crowd.

This situation left the crowd at the BN camp clearly uneasy. As if sensing the situation, Ummi Hafilda launched into another tirade on Anwar's misdeeds, barely pausing between breaths to grip their attention by recalling her harrowing "torture" at the hands of the police.

Her claim that Anwar allegedly ordered police to detain and torture her - to allegedly force her to retract her infamous letter incriminating him in adultery, sodomy and corruption - managed to win back some of the crowd, but most could not help but be drawn by Anwar's sheer force of personality.

Many who were standing on the road started to gravitate towards the Pakatan camp, to catch a glimpse of the famous former deputy premier as he spoke of Pakatan's promises of a better future.

Ummi Hafilda had to resort to repeated references to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, getting the largely elderly BN crowd to join her in cheering 'Hidup Mahathir' .

Despite asking the Pakatan crowd to ignore her, Anwar couldn't help but respond to the cheers for his former boss, asking the crowd; " Masih ada ke Mahathir? (Is Mahathir still around?)".

Anwar sporadically poked fun at Ummi Hafilda - who repeated throughout her ceramah that he is a sodomite, a serial rapist, thief and a tool of the Jews - while also asking the Pakatan crowd to ignore her.

"Don't pay any attention to her. If you do, you will push her price up from RM500 to RM600," he said, getting a hearty laugh from his listeners.

Anwar ended his speech after 30 minutes. Ummi Hafilda ended hers barely a minute after he stepped off the rostrum, hurriedly telling the crowd that she did not have much time left to spare before bidding them adieu.

The rest of the night went without incident, with traffic police working together with PAS' security detail to manage traffic and to make sure people did not block the road.

Ummi in the ring a sign of desperation