Bandar Puncak Alam (Shah Alam 2)

My great father bought a house here in Bandar Puncak Alam for me because he knew the house prices would increase and we would not be able to afford it. It was bought for only RM150,000 in 2005 and wanted us to be thankful so we went to clean it almost every fortnight.

I remember cleaning the lawn and fixing the lamps and water system. It was the first time I knew about property but I was only in university back then.

Now after about 8 years, the development is still slow in Puncak Alam. I am always a fan of the underdogs and of course with the bandar having a soft spot in my heart, I will always root for Bandar Puncak Alam. The population mix is not something we can be proud of but slowly but surely, it would be a good city.

I was told Tesco is coming to Puncak Bestari and with the links through new highways, Puncak Alam's "ulu" status would soon be history.

But for one thing I mentioned to my dad when we were on the way to the house. The distance is always a problem. In 10 years time this would be a thing of the past as more developments are set in neighbouring towns.

Double blow for Pakatan

Pakatan Rakyat has suffered a double blow to wrest Putrajaya from the ruling coalition as the 13th General Election looms. The death of Private Investigator Balasubramaniam due to heart illness has not been a good timing as he was only about to "reveal all" in a nation-wide campaign. Then came a series of pictures purportedly taken from a video feed featuring two men in compromising positions where one of them appears to be of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Conspiracy theorists may have suggested the former was killed while the latter was not the man who featured in the video. However, reality would soon settle-in to the minds of even the hardcore supporters as hard proofs would soon be released. Some supporters have even admitted they do not care if the man in the video was Anwar Ibrahim as long as "ABU" (Anyone But UMNO) movement is implemented when choosing the new Government. While the UMNO-ists might see this as a veiled attacks against the Malays as a whole, many has also seen UMNO as a party drenched with filth of corruption.

A large section of PAS party leaders and supporters have declared unfavourable to the idea of Anwar Ibrahim becoming the new Prime Minister if Pakatan were to take over the Federal Government. The notion of this movement might have stemmed from the sentiments among the grassroots supporters, in which I could only assume, Anwar's moral scandals. The sudden U-turn made by the leaders could not have been timely as it was first mentioned publicly only months before the impending General Election.

This is somewhat disastrous because Pakatan Rakyat could not afford to show differences in opinion among them to the public. They have not even agreed on the same logo or if the Buku Jingga is taking into account the aspirations of PAS to make Malaysia and Islamic (or welfare state).

At this point PAS should not make public any differences of opinion against sister parties like DAP or PKR. Seat allocations have yet to be confirmed and I expect PAS to actually fight for having the majority of seats contested, if not won, in which Anwar himself would not allow. There is a certain feeling among their leaders that PAS should actually lead Pakatan Rakyat, not PKR. Some even suggested that it is normal to elect the Prime Minister from the party that won the most federal seats but Anwar Ibrahim has insisted that they should have two Deputies, one who is Lim Kit Siang and the other should be Hadi Awang.

Personally I feel that PAS is playing a dangerous game by ignoring the two incidents mentioned and trying to push Ustaz Hadi to be the rightful Prime Minister. It is either they accept Anwar as the Pakatan's Prime Minister or join Barisan Nasional when the time comes.

Unless they are confident enough that they could win more seats than PKR and keep Pakatan intact in which is very unrealistic to me.