BY: Syed Nadzri

It seems like we're just running on the spot -- politicians were in election mode then and they still are now, in more ways in fact.

An explosive affair then was the V.K. Lingam video clip controversy. And now, similarly implicating prominent people, is a statutory declaration by online news portal editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin in connection with the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Apart from that, the start of the year erupted with a sexual scandal involving Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. Now, just as we are crossing into the second half, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is also embroiled in a similar predicament.

The latest allegations against Anwar, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser, surfaced on Saturday in a police report filed by his 23-year-old assistant, incriminating him for sodomy.
Anwar has dismissed this as total fabrication and is suing the accuser for defamation, while his shocked allies have rubbished it as well, claiming as they did when the former deputy prime minister was taken to court on similar charges several years ago, that it is politically motivated.

But the latest bombshell surely capped a feverish week of sizzling news that came in quick succession.

Though the facts and maybe circumstances differ, the sensation coming from this case is parallel to Dr Chua's.

It was on New Year's day that the then health minister and MCA vice-president came forward to admit that he was the person caught on video having sex with a woman in a Batu Pahat hotel room. It was developing into a big scandal then as copies of the video had been widely distributed in Johor and elsewhere.

Political observers predict that the latest Anwar storm, coming at a time when he is said to be mustering enough strength and influence among some members of parliament to effect party crossovers, would likely gather so much force as to eclipse many of the other hot episodes in the political scene the past week.

"In order of interest, it would relegate the SAPP's rebellious act in calling for the prime minister to step down," says an observer. "And the much-hyped parliamentary motion on fuel prices last Monday which was a test of strength by the government and opposition in the Dewan Rakyat would also pale in comparison."

Also overshadowed is the feud between the state government leaders of Pakatan Rakyat-ruled Penang and Kedah over logging issues and the spat between Barisan Nasional backbenchers and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz over the removal of barriers in the lobby of Parliament on Wednesday to restrict media access.

Facing an eclipse, too, would be the controversial amendments to Umno's code of ethics for the party elections and statements by various people in the party ranks about their intentions on the coming party polls at the end of the year.

For a while at least, even the debate about fuel subsidies and price increases is staring at the very unlikely possibility of being relegated.

And the scandal has certainly taken the spotlight off the move by MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and his deputy Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy not to defend their party posts in the party elections in October.

But most of all, the latest allegations against Anwar somewhat shifted attention from the tingle of the week -- the statement by Datuk Seri Najib Razak that he did not dismiss the possibility that he might contest the Umno presidency.

The deputy party president, responding to a question after a Barisan Nasional supreme council meeting late on Thursday, may have only said: "I will make a decision when the time comes. There is still time."

But that, as any watcher of Malaysian politics will tell you, was simply a loaded answer.