Just like it did for the Penanti by-election, Umno should also stay away from Manek Urai and give a walkover to PAS, said Pakatan Rakyat supremo Anwar Ibrahim.

He added that by passing over the impending Manek Urai state by-election, the Umno-led Putrajaya administration can fully focus all its resources full time to handle the country's ailing economy.

penanti by election pakatan leaders ceramah sivakumar nik aziz anwar tian chua 280509 10 Since Umno has passed over Penanti to channel its precious time to revive the economy, he jibed that it should refrain from contesting Manek Urai to do the same.

"Don't tell me the country's economy would be okay next week that Umno would be free to contest.

"Umno should pass over Manek Urai and give a walkover to PAS and Pakatan.

"Only then it has the time to rebuild the economy," Anwar, the PKR supremo, told the 3,000 people gathered at Guar Jering during a Penanti by-election rally on Wednesday night.

Anwar warned Umno that it would bite the dust in Manek Urai given that PAS had won the state seat in all elections since 1986, except in the 2004 general election.

He called on Penanti voters to give PKR a resounding win with a huge majority, "big enough to scare away Umno and BN from Manek Urai."

BN: A waste of public resources

Umno president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has already announced that Barisan Nasional would contest in Manek Urai, which fell vacant following the death of PAS' state assemblyperson Ismail Yaacob on May 23.

The Election Commission will announce the date for the polling today.

penanti by election pakatan leaders ceramah sivakumar nik aziz anwar tian chua 280509 09 Ismail won Manek Urai in the 2008 general election with 1,352 vote-majority over Umno's Zulkepli Omar. He polled 5,746 votes against Zulkepli's 4,394. Voter turnout was 84.23 percent.

Prior to this, BN had pulled out from Penanti's contest citing frequent by-elections as waste of public resources.

Najib explained that the ruling coalition preferred to spend its resources to tackle the economy woes.

Pakatan leaders however have always maintained that although BN did not contest Penanti, they could see the coalition's presence in the three independent candidates - Aminah Abdullah, Nai Khan Ari Nai Keow and Kamarul Ramizu Idris.

The independent candidates were described as "BN proxies" in Pakatan rallies.

Pakatan's candidate is PKR deputy state leader and former Universiti Sains Malaysia academician Mansor Othman. Polling is on Sunday May 31.

Proxy war in Penanti

Anwar pointedly noted the prominence given by BN-controlled media for unknown Penanti independent candidates in past week proved Umno's proxy war.

penanti by election pakatan leaders ceramah sivakumar nik aziz anwar tian chua 280509 08 He also accused Umno of carrying out a whispering campaign to stop voters from coming out to cast their ballots for PKR on the polling day.

The Permatang Pauh parliamentarian reminded the voters that their every vote counts and they should not listen to Umno's whisper campaign.

Strong rumours have spread across Penanti that Umno would charter at least 20 buses - two in each of the constituency's 10 polling areas - to ferry voters to visit northern border towns of Bukit Kayu Hitam, Padang Besar and Wang Kelian this Sunday.

"Umno leaders are doing everything possible to thwart a big win for PKR and Pakatan," alleged Anwar, the parliamentary opposition leader.

Nik Aziz: Umno is thick skinned

At the same rally, Kelantan menteri besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat said that Umno had faded as a political party and had been transformed into a creature that no longer deserved to exist.

penanti by election pakatan leaders ceramah sivakumar nik aziz anwar tian chua 280509 11 He taunted Umno of being paralysed by corruption, fiendishness, and arrogance and abuse of power and losing all its senses to realise and correct its wrongdoings.

"It cannot feel even mosquitoes bite anymore. It has become too thick skinned.

"Umno has abandoned political virtues to grip on to power at all costs," said the PAS spiritual leader.

The Penanti fell vacant following the resignation of incumbent representative Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin on April 16.

The constituency, which comes Permatang Pauh, has 15,384 registered voters comprising 72.6 per cent Malays, 24.2 per cent Chinese, 2.4 per cent Indians and 0.7 per cent others.

In 2008 general election, debutant Fairus garnered 7,346 votes to score a 2,219 majority win over Umno's incumbent assemblyperson Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid, who got 5,127 votes.

In the Permatang Pauh by-election last August, Penanti voters gave Anwar a thumping majority of 3,276.

This time PKR aims to secure more than 8,000 votes to give a crushing win for Mansor.