KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 ― Umno should field someone free from controversy, with integrity and a “clean image” in PKR stronghold Permatang Pauh, or consider skipping the poll altogether, Utusan Malaysia wrote today.

The daily’s Penang bureau chief Mohd Khuzairi Ismail said if Umno wants to create history, the party needs to be ready to make some changes.

“The question of the Permatang Pauh candidate is the most critical and we cannot compromise on a clean image, integrity and free of controversy.

“The Permatang Pauh candidate needs to be evaluated from all aspects so that there is no space for the opposition to get a free bullet to attack on personal issues,” he said in a commentary published by the Umno mouthpiece today.

Khuzairi also pointed out that the voters in the Penang constituency are likely to cast their ballots out of sympathy for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s family and not for the sake of seeking development for their homes.

“Unlike other constituencies, the sentiment of the 70,000 voters in Permatang Pauh, where the majority are Malays, are different.

“The voters here do not vote based on developments but it is more on sympathy.

“Because of that, Anwar’s family members can take turns in defending the Parliamentary seat even though for the past 15 years, there has not been any development that PKR has brought to this place,” he said.

He pointed out that Umno actually has an advantage now thanks to PAS and DAP’s tussle over hudud but the ruling party’s members in Permatang Pauh must avoid sabotaging each other.

“I think it is fair to say that if Umno continues to lose with a big majority, the whole Umno leadership in that constituency should voluntarily step down because they are not the people that Permatang Pauh wants,” he said.

Anwar lost his Permatang Pauh seat after the Royal Pardons Board rejected his petition.

On February 10, after the Federal Court upheld the appellate court’s decision to convict the Opposition leader of sodomy, also sentencing him to five years’ imprisonment.