Anwar gets big welcome - Star

BUTTERWORTH: Aug 4, 2008 By CHRISTINA CHIN

PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will contest the Permatang Pauh by-election even if he is put behind bars.

“Whether or not I am allowed to campaign and whether or not I'm thrown into the lock-up, I will definitely stand in Permatang Pauh,” he said to a huge crowd at his “homecoming” ceramah at the Seberang Jaya expo site.

He said he chose Permatang Pauh because some of the election petitions now in the courts would take a long time to settle.

He noted that his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had made clear of her intentions to step down as Permatang Pauh MP to pave the way for him.

“So there is no issue of us suami isteri (husband and wife) cheating Permatang Pauh voters,” he said at the function which was attended by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa.

Rapt attention: Anwar addressing the crowd in Permatang Pauh Sunday night.

On allegations that he was buying Barisan Nasional elected representatives to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat, Anwar said he did not have the money to buy the politicians.

Anwar later appealed to the public to donate at least RM1 each for his election campaigns in Permatang Pauh.

He also recalled the ordeal that he spent while under police custody and the medical examination that he had to go through for his sodomy allegation.

“If you have high blood pressure, please don’t read the news or watch the television in the next few weeks because you will be hearing all the accusations that they will hurl against me and Wan Azizah.

“They are doing all the things simply because I want to bring down the fuel price,” he added.

He noted that people had asked him why he was eager to go to Parliament to which he said he merely wanted to reduce the price of fuelwhich could be done.

Earlier in Butterworth, Anwar thanked Permatang Pauh voters for supporting him since 1982.

“You later supported my wife from the 1999 general election and helped her win with a bigger majority in the general election in March,” he said at the PKR Youth operations centre.

Dr Wan Azizah also thanked the voters for supporting her.

“I am vacating my seat not for personal interests, but for our common struggle to create history in Permatang Pauh, for Anwar to lead the nation,” she said in her speech.