Hours after the Federal Court sent opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to jail for a five years for sodomy, Penang Umno is already sharpening its knives for the impending Permatang Pauh by-election.

 

According to Article 48(1)(e) of the federal constitution, a parliamentarian will lose his seat if jailed more than a year or fined more than RM2,000 for an offence.

 

Anwar - the Permatang Pauh MP - lost his seat today after serving the constituency for 17 years.

 

State Umno chief Zainal Abidin Osman said the party - including the Permatang Pauh Umno division - had taken steps to prepare for the by-election since last year, when the Court of Appeal sentenced Anwar to five years' jail.

 

"With the court decision today, we will enhance our preparations and prepare our election machinery to face the Permatang Pauh by-election," he added.

 

Zainal Abidin said that Anwar had ample opportunity to defend himself during the seven-year trial, and has used every aspect of the judiciary system to this aim.

 

Even so, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal decision which found Anwar guilty of sodomising his former political aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, in 2008.

"We hope all quarters will respect the Federal Court decision," said Zainal Abidin, who is also a former Nibong Tebal MP.

 

The polls must be held within two months, and Zainal Abidin said the party will wait for an official announcement regarding the vacancy of the seat before discussing this further.

The Election Commission (EC) will announce the Permatang Pauh vacancy once it receives a notice on the matter by the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

"We will anounce the important dates, including the by-election date within 10 days of the vacancy," EC chief Abdul Aziz Yusof told Bernama .

Penang Umno’s apparent confidence did not go down well with PKR, whose leaders are still seething with anger over the court’s verdict.

 

When contacted, Seberang Jaya assemblyperson Dr Afif Bahardin said Zainal Abidin cannot look beyond Permatang Pauh when the court decision has national and international implications.

'Just call GE, then'

Seberang Jaya, together with Permatang Pasir and Penanti, are the three state seats under the Permatang Pauh constituency.

 

"Is that all he can think about? A by-election in Permatang Pauh?

"If Umno thinks that Anwar’s jailing will give them some political points, why not urge Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to call snap elections?” Afif - who is also the PKR national deputy youth chief - asked.

 

"If Zainal Abidin is so confident, why doesn’t he become a candidate in the by-election?"

Zainal Abidin should be more concerned about Umno’s position on Najib’s apparent tiff with former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Afif ( left ) said.

Anwar, 67, first contested the Permatang Pauh seat in 1982 on a BN ticket, and defeated PAS’ Zabidi Ali with a majority of 14,352.

 

He vacated the seat when he was a sacked deputy prime minister and later jailed six years for abuse of power from 1999 to 2004.

He was also sentenced to nine years for sodomy, but this was overturned in 2004.

 

In the 1999 general election, his wife and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail won the seat and held it until July 31, 2008.

 

She vacated the seat to allow Anwar - who served a ban of five years after he was released from prison in 2004 - a chance to re-enter the Dewan Rakyat.

 

In the 2008 by-election, Anwar won the Permatang Pauh seat, beating BN candidate and former Seberang Jaya assemblyperson Arif Shah Omar Shah with a landslide 15,671 majority.