Digest on Malaysian News

Lim Kit Siang poked fun today at Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s campaign for Sarawak, saying the prime minister’s 1 Malaysia policy had now degenerated into a “1 T-Shirt, 1 Tupperware circus”.


Lim was referring to reports on the distribution of goodie bags to beef up the attendance at Najib’s 1 Malaysia meet-the-leaders session held last night, the first stop of the prime minister’s six-day campaign in Sarawak.

The DAP adviser also criticised Najib for abandoning his duties as prime minister for six days in order to lead Barisan Nasional’s campaign in the hornbill state.

“Najib has not only abandoned his duties, he has also instructed his whole Cabinet to do the same and to camp in Sarawak for the state general election until polling day on Saturday.

“Clearly, Najib has lost confidence in the ability of the Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to secure the election results desired by the prime minister,” Lim said here today.

He added that Najib had turned the Sarawak state polls into a national contest, sacrificing his administration’s national policies and his personal popularity and political reputation.

Lim said that since its inception, Najib’s 1 Malaysia concept had suffered two major blows — when Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin declared himself “Malay first and Malaysian second” and last night, during the start of Najib’s campaign here, when participants at his 1 Malaysia meet-the-leaders session were plied with goodies in exchange for their attendance.

Referring to reports on Najib’s function posted on The Malaysian Insider and another online news portal Malaysiakini, Lim said the event was a “shameful spectacle”.

“It is a most shameful spectacle — the degeneration of Najib’s 1 Malaysia concept to unite Malaysians into a 1 T-shirt, 1 Tupperware circus!” he said.
The Malaysian Insider reported today that two separate rallies held last night — Najib’s meet-the-leaders session and a Pakatan Rakyat ceramah — had drawn vastly different crowd numbers.

For Najib’s function, even with the bussing of people from various neighbouring constituencies into Kuching South City Hall’s indoor stadium, only 1,000 people were seen attending it.

Each participant was given a 1 Malaysia T-shirt to wear to signal unity, and flags to wave at BN government leaders as they made their way into the stadium.

Accompanying the BN chairman were the five Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) candidates, and political bigwigs like Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

After the prime minister followed the red carpet trail leading into the hall to the sounds of hoots and whistles from the white-shirt supporters, hundreds were seen streaming out, choosing to opt out of listening to his speech.

Instead, they were seen loitering around the stadium complex, chatting and feasting on the burgers and mineral water that were handed out.

Even as Najib’s function kicked off, large numbers were seen lounging in the buses and vans that had ferried them to the venue.

When the prime minister began his speech, large groups of people, garbed in the 1 Malaysia T-shirts, decided to stream out of the hall.

Others appeared to look bored but clapped dutifully at Najib’s punchlines or when those around them did so. The bleachers steadily emptied out as the night wore on.

After the function, it was also reported that a scuffle broke out among participants as they scrambled to grab goodie bags containing a poster of Najib and either a water tumbler or a small food container of the Tupperware brand.

Lim also noted that Koh’s participation and that of MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek in the BN campaign for Sarawak was a “curious spectacle” as it was a rare occurrence that local leaders here would depend on their counterparts in the peninsular to woo support.

via MalaysiaInsider