About 4,000 people turned up at the Stadium MPPJ in Kelana Jaya at last night’s Pakatan Rakyat ‘unity’ rally in the bid to project a united front.
The two-hour ceramah, which kicked off at about 9.30pm, attracted a much smaller crowd compared to previous similar rallies despite the appearance of top leaders from the opposition coalition.
All major Pakatan leaders were at the ceramah - aimed at explaining their stand on unity talks with Barisan Nasional which had apparently fractured the loose coalition. Other hot topics included the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal and Pakatan’s preparations for July 14 Manek Urai by-election.
Among the leaders who spoke were PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim, DAP’s veteran leader Lim Kit Siang, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and Selangor Menteri Besar Mohd Khalid Ibrahim.
Also present were many other key Pakatan leaders such as Syed Husin Ali, Zaid Ibrahim, Azmin Ali and Hatta Ramli.
The leaders took pains to squash rumours of cracks within Pakatan as a result of PAS’ flirting with Umno on the unity talks issue.
They also fired potshots at Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia - a motto coined by the newly-minted leader after taking over as prime minister two months ago.
Lim, who was the first speaker to take the podium, did not waste time in tearing apart the 1Malaysia concept.
“1Malaysia is already cracking as there is no unity in Perak,” he said in reference to the political chaos in that state following BN’s power grab in the state.
Khalid followed suit by charging that Najib’s 1Malaysia would not unite but instead segregate Malaysians.
Anwar is the main draw
PAS chief Abdul Hadi, who was in the forefront in mooting the unity talks with Umno until it was shot down by many in his own party and Pakatan, appeared to have turned his back to the proposal.
“Islam encourages unity as all men are equal. PAS is a model of unity. But Umno has failed to unite even its own party,” he said to thunderous clapping from the crowd.
The main draw for the night was Anwar and he did not disappoint.
The opposition leader spoke about the weaknesses of the BN government, especially in combating corruption. He also charged that the Umno-led BN was selective in helping the needy and the marginalised.
“PKR however supports affirmative action to help all. And we know that corruption burdens the rakyat,” he said.
He also lashed out at Umno and MCA for the PKFZ scandal and its huge financial cost to the government.
“There is no political will among the top leadership in BN. Pakatan leaders differ from BN. We find solutions to all problems,” he promised.
He also hoped the federal government would speed up the construction of a second bridge in Penang.
“Otherwise, we will see a repeat of the PKFZ-type scandal in Penang,” said the Permatang Pauh MP.
Organisers had billed the event as a gathering of 100,000 people but the size of the crowd was very much lower than what they had expected.
However despite the turnout of only about 4,000, the organisers were happy that the event ended without any incidents as the police maintained a distance to monitor the crowd.
The two-hour ceramah, which kicked off at about 9.30pm, attracted a much smaller crowd compared to previous similar rallies despite the appearance of top leaders from the opposition coalition.
All major Pakatan leaders were at the ceramah - aimed at explaining their stand on unity talks with Barisan Nasional which had apparently fractured the loose coalition. Other hot topics included the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal and Pakatan’s preparations for July 14 Manek Urai by-election.
Among the leaders who spoke were PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim, DAP’s veteran leader Lim Kit Siang, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and Selangor Menteri Besar Mohd Khalid Ibrahim.
Also present were many other key Pakatan leaders such as Syed Husin Ali, Zaid Ibrahim, Azmin Ali and Hatta Ramli.
The leaders took pains to squash rumours of cracks within Pakatan as a result of PAS’ flirting with Umno on the unity talks issue.
They also fired potshots at Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia - a motto coined by the newly-minted leader after taking over as prime minister two months ago.
Lim, who was the first speaker to take the podium, did not waste time in tearing apart the 1Malaysia concept.
“1Malaysia is already cracking as there is no unity in Perak,” he said in reference to the political chaos in that state following BN’s power grab in the state.
Khalid followed suit by charging that Najib’s 1Malaysia would not unite but instead segregate Malaysians.
Anwar is the main draw
PAS chief Abdul Hadi, who was in the forefront in mooting the unity talks with Umno until it was shot down by many in his own party and Pakatan, appeared to have turned his back to the proposal.
“Islam encourages unity as all men are equal. PAS is a model of unity. But Umno has failed to unite even its own party,” he said to thunderous clapping from the crowd.
The main draw for the night was Anwar and he did not disappoint.
The opposition leader spoke about the weaknesses of the BN government, especially in combating corruption. He also charged that the Umno-led BN was selective in helping the needy and the marginalised.
“PKR however supports affirmative action to help all. And we know that corruption burdens the rakyat,” he said.
He also lashed out at Umno and MCA for the PKFZ scandal and its huge financial cost to the government.
“There is no political will among the top leadership in BN. Pakatan leaders differ from BN. We find solutions to all problems,” he promised.
He also hoped the federal government would speed up the construction of a second bridge in Penang.
“Otherwise, we will see a repeat of the PKFZ-type scandal in Penang,” said the Permatang Pauh MP.
Organisers had billed the event as a gathering of 100,000 people but the size of the crowd was very much lower than what they had expected.
However despite the turnout of only about 4,000, the organisers were happy that the event ended without any incidents as the police maintained a distance to monitor the crowd.
03/07/09
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