Last night at close to mid-night I finally caught Isa Samad at his Operations Centre (his old house) in Bagan Pinang. I'd been trying to meet him since the week before nomination day, but his hectic schedule kept our paths separate.
Friday would be the last day of campaigning. Saturday 13th., an ominous date, would be D-Day.
Anwar, for whatever reasons, had chosen to seek mandate from the PD folks. He's an outsider here, compared to Isa. That could be the deciding factor.
Isa's entry into fray seems so natural. UMNO (and Mat Hasan in particular) chickened out. After all the bombast, PAS finally sent an unknown. But that is PAS. They'll send anyone to the polls. And except for Kelantan and Terengganu, their traditional strongholds, all would fall by the roadside, usually scrounging dismal numbers and making you think "don't they plan properly?" The 4 independents were drawn by the smell of blood, like Saiful, Anwar's nemesis in Sodomy II. Or maybe the stink of sewage. I don't know.
I've not attended any of Isa's campaigns. I attended one of Anwar's on Wednesday, where Mat Sabu and Rais Yatim were the notable speakers. Last night Muhyiddin accompanied Anwar for prayers (it was Thursday night or "malam Jumaat", a holy night for supplications) at the Bagan Pinang mosque close to Isa's hq. I came close to the Mahathir visit at the "Waterfront", but bad weather, bad light and bad traffic turned me away to Isa's ops room instead. But I'd been collecting the oral and printed feedbacks on the current situation. And they point to a close race. The national "icon" vs. the "local boy". And Isa is playing the local boy image to the fullest.
You'll remember the first recorded response by Anwar to Isa's entry in the race; he was dismissive. "He has enough problems". Maybe for a moment Anwar forgot that Isa doesn't have a monopoly on personal problems. In fact Isa said to me last night, Anwar has not attacked him personally throughout the campaign so far, so he, too, hasn't personally attacked Anwar, but added (rubbing his side pocket) he has plenty of material if he chooses to. Since that first remark, Anwar must have realized that Isa is small, but not small fry in PD. That's why Mahathir and Daim and other national figures have been pulled by Anwar (that's political influence) to come to PD. Some pro PH commentators have said that their presence had spiked Anwar's rating.
I see that Isa is sticking to local issues, while Anwar tries to impress with his connections, from the liberal youth to Mahathir and the Agong, and talks of master plans for PD worth millions. Anwar's crowd is boosted by "outside" supporters in their flashy suv's and escorts' flashing lights. Isa's company is always local, and they go to all the nooks and corners of PD because they know where to go. Even on nomination day, Isa's smaller crowd was all local, whereas Anwar's was boosted by at least 200 Kuala Pilah supporters, because I recognized them. This "local" vs "national" campaign is the decider, I think.
Well, we don't have a long wait. By tomorrow evening we'll know if Isa has come home to roost.
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