People are gathering in the heartland of the Penang mainland as the gates open for the pivotal fight for Anwar Ibrahim's political comeback.

However, this ‘mother of all by-elections’ has yet to deliver the quality of campaigning that can generate confident optimism in Malaysia's future. It is haunted by the past and political constraints of Malaysia's highly personalised elite politics.

All sorts of political ghosts have gathered in this constituency of 58,459 voters in Penang's fast developing mainland.