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Written by Regina William, The Edge Admitting that the popularity of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had dwindled in recent days, Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said the Manek Urai by-election results was a clarion call for the coalition to buck up and overcome their differences, both within the parties and the coalition.
PAS won the by-election by a razor-thin majority of 65 votes with its candidate Mohd Fauzi Abdullah garnering 5,348 votes to defeat Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat, who obtained 5,283 votes.
During the 2008 general election, PAS' Ismail Yaacob won the seat with a 1,352-vote majority.
"Though we should be thankful that PAS won, this is definitely an indication of the decline in support for the PR parties.
"The seat has always remained with PAS and the only time PAS lost the seat to BN was when Ismail Yaacob was not fielded by PAS during one general election," Lim said at a press conference after launching the Penang Trade Events 2009 calendar.
He said one of the factors that contributed to the reduced majority for PAS was the divide within PAS caused by the proposed unity talks with Umno. Lim also mentioned the ongoing debacle in Selangor with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Deputy President Azmin Ali's accusations against the PKR-led state government, which has led to negative perception among Malaysians about the PR coalition.
The other reason, Lim said, was the feel good factor about Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is still in the "honeymoon" period, dishing out goodies for Malaysians.
"However, we must also ask why Umno/BN did not win the seat when everything was in their favour during this by-election?
"They should have won," he added.
Lim said it was time for the PR parties to settle the internal problems within the respective parties and also within the PR coalition and carry on with the task of working in unison against BN.
"The sooner the differences are settled the better and we can compete effectively against BN and offer good, effective and clean governance for all Malaysians.
"Otherwise it would only be detrimental for the future of PR," he added.
Meanwhile, Lim said the state government was serious about promoting Penang as an international MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition) destination in five years.
To facilitate the progression, Lim said a transitional facility with space of 60,000 sq ft to 70,000 sq ft will be ready by 2011 in preparation for an even bigger MICE facility to be built.
"We are looking at various proposals and we are exploring various options and will have a more concrete proposal in three months.
"This will have to be a private finance initiative (PFI) or self-financed by the state government, Lim added.
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