By Lee Wei Lian (Malaysian Insider)
PENANTI, May 24 – PKR candidate Dr Mansor Othman has pledged to play a complementary role to chief minister Lim Guan Eng as the new deputy chief minister I after his likely win in the Penanti by-election.

The scholarly politician is a shoo-in for the win in this PKR fortress, especially after Barisan Nasional boycotted the contest and he has been tapped for the senior state post, which is reserved for PKR.
Mansor is also seen as the party’s desire to put a strong and capable ethnic Malay leader in the Penang state government and he also pledged to address Malay grassroots issues like mosque administration and establish a Penang Islamic foundation.
He however denied it meant he will look after Malay affairs and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng will look after non-Malay affairs.
“Guan Eng has also implemented programmes for the Malays. What it means is that I will support Guan Eng in being more aggressive in implementing programmes for the grass roots such as eradication of hard core poverty leaving him free to focus on securing investments for the state,” Mansor briefed reporters at the PKR Penanti office.
The Penanti seat fell vacant after Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin quit on April 16, just over a week after resigning as DCM following graft allegations, of which he was later cleared.
State executive councillor Abdul Malik Abdul Kassim, an Indian Muslim, was said to be favored by Lim to be DCM,  but it was rejected by PKR as it felt it cannot afford to ignore political considerations for a strong ethnic Malay candidate.
Mansor also promised to help small and medium enterprises secure financing and to push for affordable housing.
During the same briefing, election director Saifuddin Nasution said that the party machinery was currently in “gear 1” but would shift to “gear 3” soon.
He added that Pakatan Rakyat was bringing out “top guns” despite Barisan Nasional’s absence, as a show of solidarity and is using the by-election to showcase the unregistered coalition’s unity and solidness.
Among speakers lined up for the campaign include opposition icon Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and Guan Eng, who is also DAP  secretary general.
PKR strategy director Tian Chua addressed allegations that PKR was bribing independent candidates to make them withdraw saying that it was not in the party’s interest to “have no competition” and asked for proof.
“Show proof so that the Election Commission can investigate,” he said.
“I believe any accusations of wrongdoing by Pakatan Rakyat will be acted on quickly,” he added with a hint of sarcasm.