1Malaysia ‘welfare’ dining farce

Amused Observer shares with us her experience of people queing up to tuck in like there’s no tomorrow.

Just about a week ago a 1Malaysia dinner (a misnomer for 1Malaysia BN farce) was held at the temple next to the wet market in my parents neighbourhood. Today, 22 April 2013, this neighbourhood is again in the midst of another wave of 1Malaysia chaos.

So, here I am trying to monitor this chaos that seems so ridiculous and beyond the control of the few visible Rela personnel apparently manning the traffic jam on the Mt Erskine main road. The surrounding area seems neglected.

It all began to gather momentum at around 5.30pm with a heavy booming base music (if that is what it was) that vibrated the air around one’s house and person. The crowds of old ‘aunties’, ‘uncles’, grandmas and grandpas, parents with children in tow started to swell, even before the food stalls were ready to distribute the ‘free food’.

Now, its nearly 9.00pm, nearly half-way through, and the singing is so bad, I feel like telling them to put on a CD of the original singer whose song they’ve just MURDERED!

Whoever that singer out there is started a few lines of the national anthem… thank God she didn’t continue… in her own words, “Telimakasih”. It was in danger of going the same way as the Denver song, she just demolished. Kadevale! (Don’t know how to translate this Tamil exclamation.)

First, let me share with you an interesting conversation I had with a former neighbour of mine who had gone to ‘eat his fill’ on the way home from work. He is going to a DAP ‘ceramah’ later tonight!

Apart from the obvious splurge that is going on, he told me that these BN goons were distributing ‘angpows’ containing three ‘lottery tickets’ to people at the dinner. Each of these ‘lottery tickets’ cost RM3; so this ‘ang-pow’ is worth RM9 each. It is a gamble and there is no guarantee of winning anything. Just think, 1000 ‘ang-pows’ cost RM9000. The BN is promoting gambling, especially since some are known to be inclined to try their luck, given the chance.

Of course, there’s also the lucky draw which is restricted to “1Malaysia” T-shirt wearers only. So, be warned, if your number comes out of the hat, you must be wearing that BN T-shirt, otherwise, forfeit your prize! Some people are wearing “1Malaysia T-shirts”, but only to get whatever ‘goodies’ are on offer.

The loud music is still going on and expected to continue until about 12.00 or 12.30am – no sleep until then for all in this vicinity tonight. Anyway, no applause for the BN candidate has been heard, which for PR supporters is probably a good sign.

People keep coming and going in a continuous stream. According to my ex-neighbour, there was no need for people to cook dinner for one month since the BN was supplying ‘free food’ and the DAP encouraged people to take the food that was bought with who-knows-whose money. Fishy business, these 1Malaysia farces.

So, I’m waiting to see who gets the last laugh, and who shoots themselves in the foot on 5 May 2013! Let’s move on to the pictures, to give you a glimpse of the 1Malaysia chaotic farce. It’s hilariously tragic!

Well, that was just the beginning of the event. By the way, there were also Indian Malaysians around, but I didn’t see any Malays. Nobody mentioned anything about provision of “halal” food or even about charities collecting money. So, the word “welfare” or “charity” on the flyers makes very little sense. No surprise, they probably had numerous 1M dinners in Tanjung Tokong down the road near the former fishing village also. So much for 1Malaysia, it looks more like 2Malaysias.

Well, I was wrong, it finished around 11-something tonight, thank heavens! People are perhaps getting 1Malaysia Dinner fatigue. Many took food home again, although there was supposed to be a moratorium on “ta pau”/“bungkus” (take-away). God bless the old “aunties” armed with carrier bags!

Amused Observer is the pseudonym of a Penang-based observer of local politics.

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

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