30,000 Johoreans jolt Umno’s bastion
state
A sea of politically awakened Johoreans
turned up for Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat.
PARIT RAJA, BATU PAHAT (Dec 1, 2012): Some 30,000
Johoreans turned up at the assembly of awakened Johoreans here tonight to shake
Umno’s bastion state Johor.
Never
in Johor’s political history has an Opposition rally attracted such an enormous
crowd.
The
assembly was part of the on-going state-level Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat (Peoples’ Uprising Assembly) series being
organised by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) nationwide.
It
follows the national-level assembly staged in Taman Seremban Jaya in Senawang
on Nov 3 which also attracted about 30,000 Malaysians.
PR leaders seated from left are PAS
vice-president Salahuddin Ayub, Johor PAS commissioner Mahfodz Mohamed, Johor PKR chairman Chua Jui Meng,
PAS deputy president Mat Sabu, PR d factor leader Anwar Ibrahim and DAP
vice-chairman Tan Seng Giaw. Chua is seen having a serious discussion with his
Johor PAS counterpart while waiting for
Hadi to wrap up his ceramah.
Johor
PKR chairman Chua Jui Meng and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim arrived together
at about 11pm and were pleasantly surprised by the mammoth crowd.
They
both had to wade through a sea of people to get to the stage with their shoes
and trousers covered with mud.
PAS
president Hadi Awang was then in the midst of his more than an hour-long
speech.
After
Hadi wrapped up his ceramah, a brief
ceremony was held to introduce and accept the membership application forms of several
ex-senior Johor civil servants and former key Umno members who joined PAS.
Introducing and accepting application
forms of new PAS members comprising ex-senior civil servants from Johor and key
Umno members.
Anwar
was then called to the stage to deliver his ceramah
and got the crowd roaring when he shot off with: “This is not an Umno assembly!
What (Prime Minister and Umno president) Najib (Abdul Razak) don’t understand
is the emergence of Kebangkitan Rakyat
(Peoples’ Uprising).”
Anwar doing what he does best on stage … he kept the
crowd listening to him for about 90 minutes.
“Malaysians
today are well informed about socio-political issues. They are also much more
intelligent and it is not so easy, as in the past, to fool them.
“There
is no room for lip service and mere rhetoric in politics anymore. We must tell
the rakyat (people) what we can offer
and what we can do to provide good governance.
“We
must make clear our people-oriented policies and that we are here to serve the
people and to ensure their welfare and country’s progress.
“Unlike
BN, if we are given the mandate to administer Putrajaya after the next 13th
General Election, we will ensure the eradication of corruption,” Anwar said.
A close up of the people seated on the
muddy field.
Speaking
on the sidelines, Chua, who is also PKR vice-president, said: “Tonight is the turning
point of PR’s arduous journey not only to Putrajaya, but to also topple Umno and
MCA in their political stronghold.
“Tonight’s
crowd is simply amazing because they remained until 1am to hear us out. They
were also not put off by the muddy ground caused by rain in the late afternoon.
The tiger is awakened! Umno, MCA and BN beware!
“What
is more telling is that some 90% of the audience were Malays. We are now witnessing
a strong swing of Malay voters in Johor to PR.
“In
fact, I had arrived together with Anwar from the Johor PKR Deepavali Open House
cum ceramah in Tebrau.
“The
turnout was about 5,000 people and what was encouraging was that 90% of the
audience were Indians. This indicates Johoreans want people-centric and cleaner
state and federal governments.
“The
strong turnout by the Indians in Johor also confirms that the community is also
giving wider support to PR compared with the March 2008 political tsunami,” he
added.
The audience near the stage.
Another
close up of the audience seated on the muddy field.
Johoreans show who is the boss of Malaysia in the next general election.
