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The night is known as ‘Malam satu hati bersama rakyat’, and it began with
Chia Kwang Chye (parliamentary candidate for Bkt. Bendera) as the organiser,
giving the welcoming speech (in Mandarin). He talked a little about BN
success and ended by urging the people to support BN.

There was one hour of entertainment before the speakers began. A combined
cultural dance and the 3 individual races cultural dances, 4 professional
singers and the biggest attraction – acrobatic performance from Beijing,
China.

At this moment, there were about 5000 people present, consisting of various
races but mostly Chinese, as Rifle Range is a Chinese dominated area.

Brief points on what the speakers spoke about:

Lim Keng Yaik
Spoke in English, Mandarin but mostly in Hokkien, as he said he wants the
Penang

- criticize Lim Kit Siang’s takeover of Penang e. g. Tanjung 1, Tanjung 2,
Tanjung 3
- criticize Anwar a lot and even hinted at him being a gay e. g accused him
of being the father of money politics when in the government; he is like a
chameleon.
- shot down Barisan Alternative
- make fun of DAP’s slogan ‘just change’
said he spoke more on Hokkien because he wanted the Chinese people to
realize the evil intention of the opposition.

Ong Ka Ting
Spoke in Bahasa and Mandarin

- sing praises of all the parties under BN being united.
- criticize DAP, PAS, PKR as ‘kahwin’ and making a pact together.
- criticize Anwar when he was Education Minister, saying he gave lots of
problems to the Chinese. Said that when he was in power, he did not do
anything, so why should the people trust him now? Also mentioned about the
attack from Chandra Muzaffar, saying that soon others will follow suit after
Chandra to hit out at Anwar.
- warn that if we deny BN the 2/3 majority, the Chinese will be weaken.
- mentioned about the Northern Corridor which creates jobs for all races.
- call on all Chinese to vote BN so that BN can develop the state/country.

Koh Tsu Koon
Spoke in Bahasa and Mandarin

- first thing he did was to ask the people to clap 3x for Badawi
- gave a lengthy situation example of how Anwar refused to promote a Chinese
educationists because Anwar fear the Malays might get angry but when he
approached Najib on this matter, Najib at once approved the promotion.
- also brought up the attack on Anwar by Chandra.
- Ask not to trust PKR, join Gerakan or MCA instead.

He then introduce all the MCA/Gerakan members present who were contesting in
the election. Almost all of them were there. They were then asked to go on
stage and together all of them shouted their ‘Give me 5′ slogan.

Abdullah Badawi

- start off by saying “if you are with us, we will be strong for you” and
informing that even MIC, UMNO were present, showing the unity of BN.(at
this there were cheers from them)
- said that Anwar is no longer important to them (UMNO). They don’t need
Anwar anymore.
- accused DAP as a racial party.
- dig out the situation happening in 1969 where Gerakan and MCA lost heavily
while UMNO won, but yet UMNO gave the CM post to Gerakan. This is because,
he said, knowing the majority of people in Penang are Chinese, they agreed
to a Chinese CM and had been doing that all along.
- parrot his ‘work with me, not for me’ slogan.
- touch on the withdrawal of the use of indelible ink, saying this had
nothing to do with them fearing they will lose in the election. Gave the
reason of the sabotage plan uncovered by the police.
- also touch on phantom voters and said it is impossible for them to cheat
on this area and stressing “BN don’t cheat. We want a credible election. ”
- end by saying they want to forge peace and prosperity among all races.

Occasionally uttered ‘Satu hati’ in Mandarin
Occasionally someone shouted ‘Hidup Pak Lah! ‘ and others joined in.

COMMENTS

- All the speakers hardly receive any cheer… only once or twice but Badawi
got more cheers.

- All speakers ended up with calling for the people to vote BN except
Badawi. He was fair to say “I can’t tell you who to vote. You use your head
and heart to vote. ” (unbelievable! ).

- The MC had to at times said “Tepuk tangan lah! ” to the audience.

- The audiences consisted of Malay, Indian and Chinese, mostly Chinese as
Rifle – Range is a Chinese majority area. More Malays came late as they
only want to hear Badawi talk.

- The large car park was used, where chairs are placed for people to sit.
Tents were also erected by the side. 2 large screen projection were by the
side of the stage. Lighting and sound system all were fantastic.

- The police and RELA personnel were seen. There were also several FRU
personnel who were there waiting for Badawi’s arrival. When he arrived, the
FRU surrounded him to escort him to the stage, and they remained standing
near where Badawi was seated. It was as though they were his bodyguards!

- There were 2 MPPP’s mobile toilet – MPPP come under government right, so
is that the use of government machinery? Well, they were using the service
of FRU, who are government servants!

- Additional note: Few days after this ceramah, a friend told me that one
(or maybe more than one) busload of people were paid RM50.00 to be there,
and another said, she heard people who attended the ceramah received a bag
of rice. Can’t substantiate if these are true.

Ong BK

lucia:  8.00pm. be there early – 7.30pm or even 7.00pm if you want to park inside and get a good seat.

Sometimes BN does the darnest things – this is one of them! I am glad their true colors showed. They claimed to be rakyat friendly, but not for this cause though