COMMENT In January, PKR took the country by surprise by forcing Kajang state assemblyperson Lee Chin Cheh to resign to make way for party de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's entry as a Selangor lawmaker.
 
This was dubbed the "Kajang move" by PKR, described to be a " game changer " that would catapult the party towards Putrajaya and present options for the state administration if there needs to be a change in leadership.
 
But no amount of sugar coating could hide the fact that the "Kajang move" was part of an elaborate plan to replace Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as menteri besar and put an end to his tiff with PKR vice-president Azmin Ali.
 
Khalid's no-nonsense image and technocrat style had endeared voters but earned him scorn  from state assemblypersons from all three Pakatan Rakyat parties who wants him to loosen the state's purse strings.
 
The state assemblypersons, particularly Azmin, believe that Khalid can boast about increasing the state's reserves but this feat is of no practical use if it is not spent for public good.
 
Instead of giving in, Khalid increased the state assemblyperson and state cabinet members salary by 87 percent and 231 percent respectively, sparking protest from Pakatan over the lack of consultation .
 
Then came Lee's shock resignation and PKR's announcement of Anwar's candidacy. The move sparked public outcry on grounds that this was an abuse of democracy and that the by-election is a waste of public funds.
 
Khalid not going anywhere
 
For PKR, the merits of the "Kajang move" - allowing a person agreed by all three Pakatan components to replace Khalid - was worth the risk of voter backlash.
 
But just five days before Anwar was to file his nomination forms, he was disqualified from running after being convicted for sodomising his former aide, forcing the party to nominate his wife and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail instead.
 
In other words, the meticulously planned "Kajang move" had to be prematurely terminated. 
 
Immediately, PKR dropped the term altogether and transformed its campaign strategy by labling the by-election as a referendum on Anwar's conviction instead.
 
A cursory look at the results of the by-election reveal that voter sentiment remains at status quo, with both PKR and BN increasing their share of the votes in terms of percentage, because the Kajang contest during the general election had four independent candidates.
 
Did the "Kajang move" fail to move anything at all? Can PKR call this a referendum on the sodomy conviction? 
 
These questions might be answered as details from polling stations are made available. But for now, Khalid is one person who has every reason to smile, as all threats to his position as menteri besar have been virtually nullified.
 
It would be naive for PKR to suggest that Wan Azizah, a first-time Selangor lawmaker, had the necessary credentials to run a state, nor has she shown any ambition to do so.
 
Did 'C4C' work?
 
Overall, the campaign had been mostly subdued, partly because of early campaigning by PKR well ahead of the nomination and the fact that public attention is on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.
 
Several BN and Pakatan leaders cross-swords a few times but Wan Azizah and her opponent Chew Mei Fun, the MCA vice-president, did not even trade barbs.
 
MCA did appear to have improved on their campaigning methods, ditching their usual anti-Islamic state tirade and focusing more on the usual BN promises of development and the coalition's proven track record.
 
However, there appears to be an underlying message by some MCA campaigners to Chinese voters that they should vote for a fellow Chinese.
 
This was particularly evident on polling day where Malaysiakini spotted numerous campaigners blatantly telling Chinese voters that Chew is a " hua ren (Chinese)" and "Kajang is a Chinese seat".
 
Such racial undertones reflect the party's inability to move away from the race card, but the party has distanced itself from any such incidents.
 
Eventually, MCA claimed that it had managed to bag 25 percent of the Chinese vote in Kajang, up 7 percent from the last contest. This may be a consolation prize for MCA, but a snub at BN's 1Malaysia policy, given the strategies involved.
 
As for PKR, the party is claiming that it had made some inroads in Malay areas. Are the claims made by both PKR and MCA an indication that there are some voters who vote along racial lines? Perhaps so.
 
During the 13th general election, the BN and PKR candidates for Kajang were Chinese. A Malay candidate from Berjasa, surprisingly drew 1,024 votes.
 
The small gains made by both parties, however, seem hardly significant when viewed overall, since the share of votes received by both parties appear are virtually at status quo .