All uphill now for PKR's Manikumar

The real battle now begins for PKR’s S Manikumar to show the people of Bukit Selambau that he is everything that he has been made out to be by party boss Anwar Ibrahim.

Yesterday, the 35-year-old- businessman from Alor Star overcame the odds to win the state seat, undoubtedly with Anwar playing a major role in ensuring that his candidate would best represent voters despite their unprecedented luxury of choice.

Manikumar won with a majority of 2,403 votes, against main rival S Ganesan of BN, in the historic 15-way fight that also featured 13 Independents.

The question now arises if the Manikumar can convince the 10,299 people who voted for BN that he is the person to meet their needs as well.

He sounded like he was up for it, telling reporters after his victory: “It does not matter who (my constituents are) - Malay, Chinese, Indian or Siamese... every one of them is a Malaysian and I will work with them to create a Bangsa Malaysia.”

He said the first thing he will do is to set up the service centre that he had prioritised in his election charter. The centre will be equipped with communication facilities for the use of the people, while a website will be created for local leaders to key in needs of constituents.

More interestingly, Manikumar pledged to launch an action plan within 100 days of being appointed state executive councillor, as promised by Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak.

Azizan (left) reiterated the pledge last night, saying he would meet with the sultan today to discuss a post for Manikumar's head of the committee on Domestic Trade, Siamese and Indian Community Affairs, Unity and Estate Workers.

Throughout the campaign, Anwar had told the people: “Look, our guy may be a greenhorn but he has experienced people to help. As he is new, you are assured that he is a visionary, he is eager to make a difference and he is not yet enticed by corruption.”

He also reminded them that Pakatan Rakyat could not afford to lose one seat because it would launch a BN scheme to grab Kedah from opposition hands, similar to the situation in Perak in early February.

So Anwar ensured that he spend most of his time in Bukit Selambau - he campaigned there not just once, but thrice compared to the other two by-elections - Bukit Gantang (Perak) and Batang Ai (Sarawak).

He went to estates with Manikumar by his side, he prayed in a local mosque with PAS leaders beside him, and he met with people living in shanties.

Where MIC failed

The MIC-nominated BN candidate, meanwhile, had banked on his image as a self-made individual, comparing himself to US president Barack Obama.

Ganesan (right) also believed that victory for him would mark the success of MIC’s re-branding exercise - one that party’s 11-term chief S Samy Vellu has been anxious to promote.

Samy Vellu had set up camp in Sungai Petani for almost 25 days, begging the people - more specifically the Indian community - for support in return for representing them.

Whenever he was asked whether the people would vote for his candidate, Samy Vellu had assured listeners that the re-branding exercise is manufacturing forward-looking leaders - and that the people should therefore place confidence in none other than the MIC.

However, some now trace MIC’s failure to the choice of candidate - even party-members saw Ganesan as conceited.

Party workers must have sensed the voters’ mood long before the Election Commission announced the results last night.

MIC closed its temporary campaign offices as early as 7.30pm yesterday, while an insider told Malaysiakini that Samy Vellu would go back to Kuala Lumpur soon.

Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, said to be leading the BN election machinery, has hardly been seen since nomination day.

He conceded defeat at 9.30pm and he too could barely hide his eagerness to get back to Kuala Lumpur.