gerakan leaders at speakers square

yesterday at penang speakers square, for the first time, gerakan members spoke. lately it had been NGO, individuals and some DAP members.

yesterday i went with susan loone of malaysiakini and francis chan of UCAN (we media people stick together, see) to the speakers square. we were late and missed out the speeches by the gerakan members but nevertheless we approach the speakers personally to ask what they had spoken about.
(note: you can read susan’s article on yesterday’s  speakers square event at malaysiakini here – but i will CnP in my post here at the end. she mentioned about what the kedah gerakan secretary tang hing lye – first picture – had said.)

when we reached there, a friend, dalbinder singh was speaking. he talked about being 1malaysia and also talked about education. an indian man, who said he had been at the speakers square countless of times already spoke up criticising the star paper. he had a copy of the star and turned the pages and read out some pages. he was funny and made people

laughed.

after him, a malay man carrying a copy of harakah spoke. this man is against najib’s 1malaysia. he criticised the 1malaysia concept saying there is double standard here and there. i specifically remember him questioning why while he can enter sarawak, why was it that MP n. gobalkrishnan not allowed to enter sarawak.

aminah abdullah, ex PKR women’s chief was there to speak too. some of you might remember her creating some big issue during the penanti by election when she decided to stand as candidate but later pulled out, and she was mentioning something about some PKR leaders bribing her. i find it very strange what she

said that she has brought up so many issues at the speakers square which were not solved by the penang govt. hello, lady, the speakers square is not for solving problems – it is just a place for people to speak up in public.  then she also said if whatever we spoke up at the speakers square were not addressed, then we might as well ask the govt. to close down the speakers square. such a silly logic! she just had to attacked lim guan eng by saying they started the speakers square just for ‘syiok sendiri’.

aminah also mentioned something about people speaking up like this at the square might cause fights or quarrels, but she was quick to add “but we don’t want that to happen.”

before aminah spoke, a malay man also spoke. i think he was with aminah. (her husband?).  he also criticised the penang govt, criticised the speakers square that ‘can’t solve problems’. all this while, while the other speakers were speaking, those senior members behind who were heckling the gerakan members (read susan’s article) made noises now and then, that at

times it was difficult for us to catch what the speakers were talking about.

well of course we wish that issues we brought up at the square will be addressed by the govt. but that does not happen overnight. that does not happen just because you spoke up at the square.  and that does not means if the issues were not addressed or answered, we want the speakers square to close. i don’t know with others but for me, i’m glad and thankful the govt.  started the speakers square. it give us an avenue to speak up in public, to be heard by the public. at least for us to raise awareness of what we spoke up (not necessary for the govt to solve them!).

(more pictures at facebook)

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Gerakan leader heckled at Penang Speaker’s Square

Susan Loone
Jun 28, 10
11:59am

A Kedah Gerakan leader’s maiden speech at the Penang Speakers Square yesterday drew brickbats from a group of senior citizens, when he criticised Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for being ‘biased’ in implementing state policies.

It was uncertain, however, if the hecklers were members or supporters of DAP.

Kedah Gerakan secretary Tang Hing Lye lambasted Lim for allocating more state funds to the Malay community.

This caused the group, all men over 50, to jeer loudly in the Hokkien dialect, telling Tang to “keep quiet and go home”.

“This place is for the DAP,” they shouted, but Tang ignored the insults and continued to express his scathing views on Lim, who is also the DAP secretary-general.

Tang claimed that Lim had given better treatment to the Malay community by setting aside RM24 million for the bumiputera (Islamic affairs) welfare fund.

This is triple the sum of RM8 million allocated for non-bumiputera (for Chinese, missionary, religious and Tamil schools in Penang), he said.

“Where is the justice here? He accuses BN of having policies that are unfair to the people. How about his own policies?” asked Tang (left).

He also poured scorn on Lim for whining about the higher toll charge for the plannedsecond Penang bridge. The charge is tagged at RM9.40 or 30 percent more than the current amount.

“When (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department) Koh Tsu Koon was (Penang) chief minister, there were already attempts to increase the toll charges, but Koh did everything in his power to maintain the cost at RM7,” claimed Tang.

“I challenge Lim and ask him: does he have the power to make sure there is no increase in toll charges for the new bridge? (Lim) claims to be smarter than Koh but is he able to do this?”

‘No attention to grouses’

Undeterred by the jeers, another Gerakan member Rich Too spoke about maintaining the harmony of a multi-racial Malaysia.

He slammed politicians who constantly play the race and religion cards for political mileage and blamed them for forgetting how the country first came about.

“There is a lot of talk for a multi-racial Malaysia but all this remains talk. We want the government to implement policies that benefit all races,” added Too (left), who is a Penang Gerakan Youth exco member.

Former state PKR Women’s wing chief Aminah Abdullah, who was speaking for the fourth time since the square was launched in May, said she has raised many issues about Jelutong, where she resides, but said that none of the grouses have received official attention.

Not a single person from the state administration under Lim has responded to any of her complaints nor met her to discuss the ssues she raised, she claimed.

“The chief minister seems to have started this Square just (for self-gratification or syok sendiri). If this is all the Speakers Square is for, it would be better to close down this platform,” said Aminah, who runs a NGO in her community.

She also challenged Lim to quit as head of state if he cannot listen to the plight of Penangites, adding that “there are many others who can do the job”.

About 80 people had gathered at the square to hear the speakers, who braved the drizzle and hubbub from the crowd to share their thoughts.

Plainclothes police personnel and special branch officers carrying videocams were seen trying to blend in with the crowd, joining in the laughter when speakers cracked jokes.