30,000 throng PKR ceramah in Lembah Pantai

Our special correspondent reports on a huge Keadilan rally last night in Lembah Pantai attended by some 30,000 people, 90 per cent of them Malays. He came away convinced that there was still hope for the country.

 
I went
to
the
Keadilan
ceramah at
Lembah
Pantai
behind
Angkasapuri
last
night at
around
10.45pm
after
attending
another
ceramah
by Sivarasa
near
One
Utama.
The
crowd
at
Lembah
Pantai
was unbelievably
large.
All
roads
to
the
ceramah
area
were completely
blocked
with
people
(more
than
90 per cent
Malays
and mostly
young).
And
it
was
raining
heavily,
mind
you!

When
we
went,
Ronnie
Liu
of
DAP
was
speaking.
He
was
pretty good,
engaging
the
crowd
in
his
talk.
I
have
never
been
to
a ceramah
this
large
since
1969!
There
must
have
been
at least
30,000
people.

Anwar
came
at
11.30pm and spoke
until 12.20am.
He
was consistent
– unlike
the BN
politicians and their
kaki
bodek.
To
the
largely
Malay
crowd,
he
talked about
true
Islam
– which means
treating
all
children
as
our children.
That
was
a
poignant
moment.
He
said
something like,
"Anak
India
pun
anak
kita,
anak
Cina
pun
anak
kita, dan
anak
Melayu
pun
anak
kita."
At
another
point,
he
asked the
crowd
whether
giving
help
to
poor
Indian Malaysians was
wrong ,
and the
largely
Malay
crowd
responded
with
a strong
and
loud "tidak"!

Here
is
a
leader
who,
in
spite
of
his
chequered
past,
is bringing
a
message
of
unity
while
those BN politicians are dividing
us.
If
you
had
been
there,
you
would
understand
why the
BN
leaders
are
worried sick.
Even
the
ever-cynical
me
came
home
with
better
hope
for
this
country – largely
because
of
the
youthfulness
of
the
crowd.
If
this is
the
future,
we
can
still
hope.