Only 4,000 - An indication that Anwar has become boring? Pakatan losing support..

4,000 ONLY for a well-publicized gathering of Pakatan Rakyat that was targeting 100,000 is very disturbing...

4,000 ONLY when all the Pakatan Rakyat 'big guns' are there to speak - "...PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim, DAP's veteran leader Lim Kit Siang, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and Selangor Menteri Besar Mohd Khalid Ibrahim..."

4,000 only in a Stadium in PJ in the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat governed state...

Question:-

Is this an indication that the Pakatan Rakyat is fast losing the support of the people? Maybe.

Is this an indication that the people are getting bored with "...PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim, DAP's veteran leader Lim Kit Siang, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and Selangor Menteri Besar Mohd Khalid Ibrahim..."? Maybe. This happens when people who go to hear you are forced to hear the same old things over and over. UMNO talks do not find many going because they know exactly the issues and the positions, etc from the newspapers, tv, radio - has it also become the same with Pakatan Rakyat? [Some say people attend these gatherings for its 'entertainment value' - they like to hear government bashing...new stories, etc...]

What are the Pakatan Rakyat talking about these days? Corruption, PKFZ, Unity Talks, Manek Urai, Anwar's case, Perak cases, ...

Corruption here...corruption there - Is it not the same story over and over again? Really, wonder how many people are really interested in that 'Port Klang Free Zone' scandal, and all the minute details. A summary would suffice for the majority. What concerns people today are the real concerns about the impact of the economic crisis on their lives, and their future in Malaysia. There is concern about 'healthcare' and risk of rising costs. There is anger about having to repeatedly make monthly visits to the government clinics to get monthly supply for medication... There is concern about 'toll rates' ...and the fact that they still pay the same in the PR States today...There is concern about Khalid and the fact (or the perception) that he administers the State just like a BN MB...

By-Elections - Manek Urai...These by-elections, really, has become the focus of PR over the past months. After they win, one wonders what that 'good person' everyone was asked to vote for is really doing?

Anwar's cases - mmm

Perak -

UNITY Talks - well, this is new & the suggestion of such talks by PR personalities has really 'pissed' a lot of people off. There is a sense of having been betrayed. Are they any different - BN and PR, and many are concluding that there is no difference, or maybe even that the BN was better.

Pakatan Rakyat must re-evaluate itself - maybe the time has come for new leaders to step forward. Maybe, it is time to be 'revolutionary' in all PR states - get rid of toll & parking charges, declare that State Scholarship and Student Loans will have NO ethnic/religious quatas anymore - but there will still be a preference in favour of the poor, change the Board of all State-owned entities to reflect that it is 'Malaysian' - not just a board of one ethnic group, maybe even appoint a Mayor or 2 who is not a Malay Muslim, Local Council Elections..., Amanah Saham Selangor for all - capped maximum, Clear Pakatan position for the abolition of ISA and ALL Detention Without Trials - and a promise that all will be set free in 1 month after PR takes over Federal Government, Free Healthcare for all in Selangor - state will assist the poor as well [may re-imbursement for travel to and fro for the poor, elderly, unemployed, etc...]

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 - Malaysiakini, 1/7/2009, Najib gets bashed at Pakatan 'unity' rally