In Kuala Lumpur
UMNO leaders were in a dour mood as opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim arrived in Parliament for his swearing-in ceremony.
Malaysia's former deputy premier was wearing a black baju melayu and songkok (Malay headgear) and accompanied by his wife, eye-doctor Wan Azizah Ismail, who kept the seat for him in Parliament while he was in prison.
She was dressed in the sky-blue colour of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) - the opposition leader’s party. Their two daughters, Nurul Izzah, who is a Parliamentarian and Nurul Nuha, also turned up in the colours of PKR.
Hordes of reporters followed the former deputy premier everywhere, even if he made a wrong turn.
The huge turnout of reporters reflected the continuing interest in the opposition leader’s moves.
Source: REUTERS
Yet the swearing-in was not shown on television.
Controversy ensued, since the first half of the Parliament session is always telecast live.
The Minister-in-charge of Parliamentary affairs Nazri Abdul Aziz defended this by maintaining that only the question and answer session is shown live on TV, not the rest.
Not everyone believed him.
The mainstream media, not always known to be objective, too has downplayed his landslide win in yesterday's by-election by a margin of over 15,000 votes, as an expected win in his stronghold.
The swearing-in was watched by some of the Umno leaders but Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak were notably absent.
Immediately after the swearing-in, there was a spirited exchange between one-time opposition leader Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Minister in the PM's Department Nazri Aziz, who is also an Umno MP.
Mr Lim declared to Parliament that the Permatang Pauh by-election was "a second political tsunami. The government is a Titanic that will sink."
Datuk Seri Nazri retorted back that the tsunami had hit Mr Lim also and pushed him down a few notches in the political ladder.
He was refering to the time when Mr Lim was the leader of the opposition. With the DAP now a member of the coalition led by the PKR, the position is now held by Mr Anwar.
At a press conference after the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Anwar said he remains firm about his plan to take over the central government on September 16.
But he did not go into details.
BN leaders pooh-poohed his remarks.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters that Mr Anwar was "not a threat."
"It's a political game. A lot of psy-war... Good luck to him."