BN unleashes Ezam on Bkt Selambau

Barisan Nasional unleashed their top agent, Ezam Mohd Nor, a former close aide of PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim, at a ceramah in one of the key areas of Bukit Selambau last night.

Addressing a small group of some 100 Malay residents who had gathered at the Bandar Baru Sungai Lalang Umno division, Ezam condemned Anwar for destroying the Malay root of PKR.

"Indeed PKR is a multiracial party... but the Malay essentials which was predominant when I shaped the party while Anwar was in jail is gone," he quipped.

Ezam, who rejoined Umno last May after being sacked from it in 1999, however, said the new line-up of reform-thinking Umno leaders was the vision of Anwar for Umno "before he lost his way".

The root of Barisan Nasional is strong

He had also embarked to ruin PKR's chances in previous by-elections for parliamentary seats in Permatang Pauh and Kuala Terengganu.

"I am here today to pay my debt and to tell the people of Bukit Selambau not to be fooled by Anwar...he is the leader of a party that has no dignity," slammed Ezam.

"Every party must have a strong foundation... but Anwar is willing to destroy the foundation for the votes of the Indians and Chinese... and not because he cares for the Indian and Chinese community," he said.

"Although BN is a multiracial coalition, the foundation of the coalition is still Umno despite having many other component parties including those from Sabah and Sarawak.

"Therefore, Umno agreed to place a MIC candidate because if he wins, Umno would be backing him all the way because we make up the federal government," he said.

The root of Barisan Nasional is strong, therefore we will not fail, he added.

Moreover, Ezam said that the Umno leaders that were elected last week was the best Umno has seen in the 10 years.

Ezam: PKR hides their problems

"The Malay people must give Umno a chance to reform through the new leadership... I am not saying that Umno is perfect but our strength lies in the acceptance of our weakness and our willingness to change," he said.

PKR, on the hand, hides their problems rather than facing them, he said.

"Look at what has happened in the states that are being managed by them... the resignation of V Arumugam as the state assembly person of Bukit Selambau and resignation of Penang Deputy Chief Minister (I) Fairus Khairuddin without solid reasons are reflections of the coalition's leadership," he said.

He also alleged that Anwar was the mastermind of the resignation of Arumugam, an independent who won during the general election and later joined PKR.

Although Ezam looked drained and exhausted when he gave his speech at 11pm last night, he continued energetically to sing praises of his current party and the virtues of BN's candidate S Ganesan.

However, the crowd's sullen mood was too obvious probably because the number of people began to decline by the time Ezam arrived at the scene.

Prior to Ezam's speech, Ganesan addressed the gathering thanking them for their efforts and promises that he would do his level best to aid the large low-income community.

Anwar to appear at PKR ceramah tonight

While speeches were being delivered, in the background a small group of campaign workers were putting up BN banners and posters of Ganesan.

PKR's most anticipated ceramah would be taking place tonight as Anwar would be making his first stop here after being overseas for the past couple of days.

Anwar is likely to address the weakening support from the Indian community, which is very much unsatisfied with rookie S Manikumar and the uncertain Malay community which seems to be in a limbo in deciding to vote for.

With a large of independent candidates who are in the race just to teach the Pakatan-run state a lesson and with the resignation of an entire PKR division lead by activist B Kalaivanar, PKR might be facing an uphill task to convince the community that Manikumar would be able to provide them with a firm leadership.

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