E Contrario

The majority of Pantai Remis’ inhabitants are fisher folk. Some of them are small plantation holders. The parliament constituency is under the MP of Bruas Lim Keng Yeik who is also the Minister of Energy, Water and Communications. Despite being under the patronage of a minister and president of a BN party, the community remains poor, with hardly any development enjoyed by the people in the area.

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I am on a campaign trail in the Kinta Valley this weekend. I started my journey on Friday afternoon (4 Jan).

My attendance was to complement Anwar’s visit to Perak. He began his program in Kuala Kangsar where he performed his Friday prayers.

I joined him in Pantai Remis for a public meeting cum dinner which started at 18:00hr. When I arrived at about 18:45hr, the public hall had already filled with people. Besides about 40 tables, several hundreds who did not buy tickets for dinner stood there patiently waiting to listen to Anwar’s speech.

The crowd was great. The hall was filled by residents from all walks of life. Although a majority of the attendants were Chinese, the most significant was the strong presence of the Indian community. We have rarely witnessed the Indian community expressing such an enthusiastic response towards the opposition prior to the mass rally organized by HIDRAF.

I spoke after Anwar. He rushed off for the Maghrib prayer at a surau in Sri Manjung.

I delivered a 45-minute speech; and was followed by Dr Lee Boon Chye. In my speech I touched on Chua Soi Lek and asked our PM to act against all scandals without double standards. Corruption, abuses of power etc were scandals too. Our Hadhari PM should adopt the same moral standard for all his cabinet members.

What about Samy Velu? Rafidah Aziz? Chan Kong Choy? And, above all, our DPM Najib Tun Razak? I asked: are they morally fit to be in the Hadhari cabinet?

While Dr Lee was speaking, I rushed to Kampong Koh, Setiawan to continue with another program.

The public meeting was held at Dewan Chong Hwa. The hall was filled with Chinese and Indians waiting for Anwar.

Anwar arrived at about 21:00hr and gave an one-hour speech. The mood was incredible. At the time of Anwar’s speech, there were more than 1000 people packed in the hall.

The last program for Anwar that night was a big ceramah at Teluk Rubiah, Sri Manjung. I was unable to join it as I had to continue holding the fort after his departure.

Judging from the people’s reception, I believe that people are longing for change. Anwar spoke about HINDRAF and stressed the need for all ethnicities to combine forces to overthrow UMNO. He also reiterated his call for replacing the discriminatory New Economic Policy with a new Economic Agenda for all Malaysians.

The same message was then delivered at Teluk Rubiah where a vast majority of the audience was Malay-Muslim. (I was not there, but I heard that at least 6 to 7 thousand people had gathered for the ceramah.) Anwar did not shy away from ’sensitive’ topics, but instead grappled the bull by its horns. He confidently articulated the party’s stand to a crowd consisting mainly of Muslims.

In this way, our party policies as well as Anwar’s views are transparent to all. In short our leadership offers a promise to rebuild our nation with the participation of all Malaysians, regardless of ethnicity or religion.