COMMENT It may be read as a dress rehearsal of things to come in the upcoming general election but what happened at the Football Association of Penang's internal polls yesterday was interesting on the face of it.

In what was regarded as a proxy battle between Umno-backed candidates and their apolitical challengers, the slate aligned to the former were beaten in the FAP elections that had been deferred from last year because of wrangling between politically-affiliated and game-focused factions...