I refer to the Malaysiakini report Mansor savours victory... finally .

Yes, the PKR candidate has won hands down against his rivals who also lost their deposits but considering that Umno has skipped the by-election and the turnout of voters was less than 50% , the opposition party should not rejoice yet at their expected victory.

But it must have been a sweet victory for Mansor as he failed three times before this to be elected as a lawmaker in his state. Better late than never

Umno had made the right choice in boycotting the Penanti state seat by-election as ground sentiments are still against them and most probably the BN candidate would have lost the by-election by a bigger majority. The independent candidates were just a sideshow during the campaign period prior to the election.

On hindsight, by boycotting the by-election, the Umno strategists must have taken a leaf from Chinese sage Sun Tzu's book ‘The Art of War' where it is said: ‘Know yourself and know your enemies and in a thousand battles, you do not fear the results'.

Rather than suffering a humiliating defeat and being a punching bag for their opposition rivals to taunt them for all the scandals surrounding the BN government's rule, it is better that Umno stayed out of the contest.

They thus deny the opposition parties a ‘bogey man' with which they can ridicule and highlight the failure of the weak government in reforming the party and government as what is expected by the common people.

The new Penanti assembly person cum Penang deputy chief minister (I) will have to live up to the people's expectations and learn from the mistakes of his predecessor in order to win the hearts and minds of the Malay voters in Penang if the present state government wants to repeat their spectacular performances at the next general elections.

Malays are a minority in the state and most of them live in abject poverty although the previous BN state government had helmed the state since independence until 2008.

Under the previous state government, Umno representatives in the august house failed to get the Malay community out of their cycle of poverty and were only interested in getting government contracts for their cronies only and family members.

Thus, the Malay community tended to squat on ‘wakaf lands' and became general workers and fishermen who had a hard time eking out a living.

Although every community has their share of those in abject poverty, the situation in Penang is in dire straits as a majority of Malays there have failed to join the mainstream as the economic pie cakes was not distributed fairly under the previous administrations.

Current Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and his exco members have to be fair to all the communities in the state and should help those who are in need regardless of their race or religion.

No race should be left behind in order to have a more equitable and prosperous nation of which all Malaysians can be proud of.

PKR should get their house in order and not force another by-election in the future to get rid of problematic lawmakers as the people are already suffering from too much political fatigue. Hopefully, the coming by-election at Manek Urai due to the death of the incumbent will be the last by-election held until the next general elections.

I think the majority of voters are quite satisfied with the running of states controlled by the opposition front as their assembly persons seem to be on the ground to serve the public. By not going for mega-projects and with less corrupt practices and abuse of power by leaders, this will only endear them to the voters comes the next big elections.

Transparency and accountability are more obvious now after the ruling party lost their two-thirds majority in Parliament plus a few states in the historical general election last year.

The winds of change are still blowing strongly and if Pakatan Rakyat can steer their ship in the right direction without being arrogant and corrupt, God willing, come the next general elections, federal victory will be theirs to savour just like the newly-minted state assembly person for Penanti who suffered three defeats in a row before being elected .

Patience is a virtue in this matter and victory awaits those who have the strength of character to face any obstacle that comes their way.