DAP's Political Rally

DAP had a ‘ceramah’ (political rally) last night in Taman Tun which starts at 8pm. I was all geared up to go and was all excited as this was my first political rally. I was just only learning about Malaysian politics but was eager to learn more. But at 6pm, the sky turned dark and I could literally see black clouds envelop the city and moved towards me. The sky reverberated with thunder and lightning. Then the clouds moved in.

I couldn’t help but wonder is BN got their bomoh to send the rain to discourage people from attending the DAP rally. Hahaha!

The skies finally cleared about an hour plus later. I didn’t want to go but Marsupial said to just go and see anyway. So Paul and I got into the car, drove there, parked about a mile away and met up with Marsupial at the mamak which had a good view of the field where the rally was held. Teresa Kok was speaking in both English and Cantonese which I thought was a really smart move. DAP’s supporters are mainly Chinese and many of them converse in Chinese. But his election is different as the younger ones who did not care about the political scene before are now being more aware and these are the new votes the opposition needs to capture. And these younger voters are more urban and likely to be English educated. There were a lot of people in the field, at the mamak and milling around the 5-foot ways. We were listening and discussing among ourselves about our opinions.

Then it started to drizzle. Lightly at first. Then it was a total downpour. People scrambled to the 5-foot way. We were still getting wet but people stood there anyway, straining their ears to listed to the different speakers. Those true supporters were out in the field right in front of the stage. Some with umbrellas and some without. The rain was heavy. The ground and people were all wet but the crowds just kept on coming and gathering. I felt a sense of solidarity with all the wet strangers around me. At about 10pm plus, the crowd was massive. Someone estimated that there were more than 5,000 people.

I don’t know much about politics but what I gather from friends and peers is that for this election, vote anyone except for BN. This means DAP, PAS and Keadilan, depending on which party apart from BN you’re given a choice to vote for in your constituency.

In the previous election, the people were excited about Pak Lah coming on board and believed he will lead the country to more greatness. He seemed to anyway, in the first few months. But the energy, gusto and leadership which he seemed to possess seemed to fizzle off. People feel cheated and realized they made a mistake.

This is going to be an interesting election indeed. I’ll be glued to the TV on 8^th March to watch the voting updates from all around the nation.