It may have looked like one of those normal constituency visits for a member of parliament, but Anwar Ibrahim's presence in Permatang Pauh last night was extremely crucial.

Crucial, because Anwar, as party supremo and opposition leader, has a lot of explaining to do, as PKR, the party he leads heads for its annual congress in Kelantan later this month.

NONE Despite internal disciplinary issues and a spate of defections which threaten to tear the party apart, Anwar (right) is however, not shy to boast about the opposition's potential to make significant inroads into the indigenous Muslim community of East Malaysia.

Fresh from the slim but ‘historic' victory of the recent Sibu by-election, Anwar claimed that Pakatan Rakyat was confident of winning the hearts of the Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak within a period of two months, at the earliest.

He said this, in spite of coalition partner, the DAP, garnering merely 398 votes over SUPP, a BN member in Sarawak.

"Give us between two months to one year and we can win the hearts of the Muslims there," he told the cheerful crowd of about 700 people, who sat cross-legged on mats and newspapers next to a Muslim cemetery and mosque in Kampung Pertama.

"We will then be able to change the entire political landscape of this country," he added, though keen observers noticed a decline of supporters at the talk, which previously used to draw thousands.

Anwar said Pakatan had already captured about 52 percent of the popular vote in Peninsular Malaysia in the last 2008 political tsunami.

If this was also followed by a little gain in Sabah and Sarawak in the next polls, he calculated, the coalition's path to Putrajaya is guaranteed.

Sea change in Sibu

He described the sea change in Sibu as a ‘very big win'.

"This is because in 2008, Malay votes for Pakatan was only about 10 percent of the total votes, while this year, we see an increase of about 40 percent," said Anwar.

NONE "Things are really changing over there, for example, in Kampung Bahagia Jaya, I was told that it was the first time, the voters there had been exposed to political speakers other than Umno," he added.

Despite showing signs of fatigue due to a string of events in Permatang Pauh and Nibong Tebal which ended at midnight, Anwar was in his element when he fired a series of salvos at Umno, especially at its head, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The missiles ranged from the issue of Muslims consuming beer and gaming licenses approved by Najib, who is also finance minister.

"We will not use such issues (Muslims consuming alcohol) to question people's morals during elections (Hulu Selangor) but morals are very important for us," said Anwar.

NONE "As for gaming licenses, well, it was approved by Najib (left) , so where are the Ustaz (religious heads) from Umno?" he queried, tongue-in-cheek.

"In Pakatan, even our Chinese leaders have agreed to do away with these licenses, so all the talk of the community wanting it ( gambling operation centres ) is not true," he added.

He also attempted to clarify the controversy surrounding Apco Worldwide, a management consultant firm alleged to be behind the One Israel campaign.

But as expected, Anwar ended up accusing Najib of being Israel-friendly, as he, himself had been so often accused of by Umno,which he vehemently denied.

The topic was close to his heart as Anwar will face the powerful privileges committee in Parliament next month to explain the matter, with the possibility of being suspended from attending the next proceeding in the August house.

"I never denied I was close to the Americans and British but I never got paid nor had I ever paid Apco as Najib had paid RM77million to the Jewish company to improve his image," thundered Anwar, whose revelations evoked a sea of nodding heads from the attentive crowd of mostly Malay Muslim locals.

"After 12 years of trying to destroy me in every way, from abusing me to jailing me, the evidence (that it was Umno who is an agent of Israel), has finally come out," said a triumphant Anwar, who added he had documents and contracts to prove his allegations.

Unsolved mysteries

As usual, the rest of the evening was filled with little anecdotes based on current socio-political scenarios, especially the ‘mysteries' surrounding the deaths of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu , political aide Teoh Beng Hock to an Opposition assemblyperson and suspected car thief A Kugan .

On Altantuya (below) , he reiterated that Najib had not resolved the issue of why she was killed although the he had intensely denied he knew the woman nor was he linked to her death in anyway.

altantuya and son 050309 "I guess this Mongolian lady was just walking around Kuala Lumpur, then she found a stone, picked it up and it turned out to be a bomb, which exploded and killed her," he joked.

"Beng Hock was an innocent young man who supported us, he was charged for corruption one day for a mere sum of about RM2,000, he was interrogated in a very hot room, Beng Hock felt very warm, so he opened the window and then fell off the 14th floor," he added.

"And Kugan, the poor man, repeatedly felt pain in his chest and stomach and then simply fell and died," quipped Anwar, drawing laughter from the crowd, despite the seriousness and sadness surrounding all the deaths.

Anwar, however, did not touch on the subject of the ongoing trial, dubbed ‘Sodomy II' or his accuser, former political aide Saiful Bukhairy Azlan.

At the end of Anwar's talk, a voice from the crowd asked, "Where is Saiful?" and the former deputy prime minister simply grinned, as everyone else smirked and sneered, while a police helicopter hovered overhead.

"You are teasing me," said Anwar, as he uttered his thanks and goodbyes, just before 11pm, before he was whisked away to Jawi, where a mostly Chinese crowd impatiently awaited his arrival.