As the clock ticks down for what has been dubbed as the mother of all by-elections, more news on the possibility of an imminent change in government is filtering in.

jeffrey kitingan 01 According to Sabah-based PKR leader Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, 13 MPs in the state will cross over to the opposition if Anwar Ibrahim wins the Aug 26 duel for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency in Penang.

Anwar who is on the verge of making a comeback to Parliament after a 10-year hiatus has earmarked Sept 16 to form a new government.

His rivals, however, have dismissed this as nothing more than a gimmick.

Meanwhile, Kitingan also claimed that the 13 MPs had met with him and expressed their support for the opposition stalwart.

anwar ibrahim permatang pauh by election campaign 190808 "We speak the truth. I am talking about the 13 MPs who will join Pakatan Rakyat after Anwar wins this (Permatang Pauh) by-election ... they are just waiting (to cross over)," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

The PKR vice-president said two of the MPs were from the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and the rest from Umno.

Claims dismissed by Bung Mukhtar

However senior Umno MP for Sabah Bung Mukhtar Radin dismissed Kitingan's claims, stating that the latter was lying.

He said that he knew all the MPs from Sabah and that they will not be defecting.

"I meet them everyday but they never say anything about defecting to the opposition," said the Kinabatangan MP in Parliament today.

2008 election results for sabah 160608 "It's all based on lies. If they keep on insisting that they would defect, I would make a police report against them together with the MPs," he said.

The opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat, comprising PKR, DAP and PAS, controls 81 parliamentary seats while Barisan Nasional has 140.

Pakatan Rakyat would need an additional 30 seats to form the federal government. Sabah has 24 BN MPs.

Anwar is involved in a three-corner fight for the Permatang Pauh seat, vacated on July 31 by his wife and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

BN has fielded Seberang Jaya state assemblyperson Arif Shah Omar Shah. The third candidate is Hanafi Mamat of Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia (Akim).

Gus Dur's support a 'personal matter'

In another development, Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim said today the expression of support by former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid for Anwar was a personal matter on the part of a leader who did not enjoy support in his own country.

He said the support would neither in any way add to the reputation of the de facto PKR leader nor change the opinion of voters in Permatang Pauh with regards to Anwar.

gus dur "Gus Dur's (Abdurrahman) was a personal expression of views by a former president of Indonesia whose stand and reputation we, in Malaysia, are aware of," he added.

Rais was responding to a statement by Gus Dur at a news conference held at the PKR headquarters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Gus Dur had claimed that the legal system in Malaysia was undemocratic and questioned the need for the Internal Security Act.

He also questioned Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan's swearing on the Quran over his accusation of sodomy against Anwar, saying the oath was not in accordance with Islamic law.