With just a little less than 36 hours left  forTenang folk go to the polls in the state seat by-election, it appears that even the most resilient Umno areas are warming up to Pakatan.

In Felda Chemplak Barat, where all roads leading up to the settlement are littered with posters saying that Pakatan campaigners are not welcome, about 300 people, mainly locals, turned up for the ceramah, ignoring the pouring rain.

Where Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng stood up to speak, only  to be heckled at by youths in BN shirts just two nights ago, last  night saw a crowd showing a mixture of curiosity and adoration for the stellar lineup which included PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor speaker Teng Chang Khim of DAP.

Teng, already a celebrity in certain parts of Tenang town over his fluent Hokkien jibes, adopted a different approach in Felda Chemplak Barat where 81 percent of the voters supported BN in 2008.

A lawyer by training, he instead espoused the Selangor Pakatan state government’s policies.

“The auditor-general has lauded the financial management of Selangor and Penang. Who appoints the auditor-general? Not us, but the BN government. And yet he had to concur with our practices,” he said in fluent Bahasa Malaysia.

He also repeated the oft-used issue of the recent Penang's and Selangor’s foreign direct investments being the top two in the entire country, which had the crowd clapping and whooping.

Anwar gets crowd going

But it was Anwar who got the crowd going.

NONE With some of the audience sitting just two metres away from him at the porch of a house, Anwar threw punches from his usual arsenal, including the Apco allegations as well as jokes at the expense of the prime minister’s wife Rosmah Mansor.

“When Wikileaks first came out , all the newspapers went to town with my liwat (sodomy) case. Suddenly everyone knows about Wikileaks.

“But when Wikileaks further exposed that the BN leaders of this country as incompetent, and that PM Najib Abdul Razak is an opportunist... opportunist means ikut angin lah. Maybe he ikut angin Rosmah,” he quipped provoking much laughter.

“But when Wikileaks exposed that, not a peep from Utusan and TV3. Look at how these mainstream media want to make fools out of Malaysians,” he slammed.

He also spoke on other issues, switching to layman’s terms in explaining  the recent Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report stating that Malaysia came in fifth in illicit funds outflow, with RM291 billion undeclared or lost.

However, at an earlier ceramah at Kampung Redung, the response was far from satisfactory due to the rain.

Held at an unused piece of land within the kampung where only the makeshift stage was sheltered by a tent, fewer than 30 local folk followed the ceramah.

“Raining here and the response is not encouraging,” said Anwar on the micro-blogging website Twitter last night.

Chinese voters’ varied response

Meanwhile, things could not have been more different with the Chinese voters in Tenang.

An 85-table PKR dinner last night at Labis town was packed with local people, while a DAP ceramah by the roadside managed to attract 150 listeners  inspite of the rain.

MCA tried to compete with the opposition by holding their first ceramah in front of its office, some 500 meters from the DAP ceramah.

NONE The response appeared to be positive when MCA vice-president Ng Yen Yen ( right ) kicked off the ceramah at 7.30pm, drawing a 100-strong crowd sitting under the tents.

However they started to leave the ceramah after 9pm. When the last speaker, MCA vice-president Gan Ping Siew took over the stage at 10pm, fewer than 20 remained.

In sharp contrast, the DAP ceramah drew a growing crowd after the rain stopped at about 10pm. The ceramah lasted until 12am, attended by 100 hardcore supporters.

The MCA ceramah continued to harp on PAS’ Islamic state agenda, bringing in speakers from PAS-ruled states including Gurun assemblyperson Dr Leong Yong Kong from Kedah and TV2 Chinese talk show ‘What say you?’ host Chong Yew Chuan from Kelantan.

NONE They slammed the Islamic policies implemented in both states including the cinema ban in Kelantan, separating males and females in public places, and halting all business activities during prayer times in two districts in Kedah.

A short clip was screened during the ceramah which showed PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat, in a speech, allegedly saying that women without tudung deserved to be raped.

It was followed by more footage on the implementation of hudud law which included mention of hands being chopped off for certain offences and other inhumane punishments in other Islamic countries.

Although it was announced earlier that MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek and Labis MP Chua Tee Yong would speak at the ceramah, they did not show up.

MCA will continue to hold ceramah at the same place tonight and tomorrow.

Felda not ready yet for change