Anwar a hit in Umno stronghold

Pakatan launches its Negri Sembilan election manifesto in Gemas, where the NFC farm is located.

GEMAS: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim last night attracted his biggest crowd in Negri Sembilan in recent memory when he launched the Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto for the state.

Estimates put the size of the audience at more than 6,000 people, which was a remarkable number because Gemas is one of the strongest Umno fortresses in the state and the Tampin District Council had torn down hundreds of posters and banners advertising the event.

Before this, no Pakatan Rakyat figure has been able to attract more than 4,000 to an event in Negri Sembilan. The largest crowds before last night were at events in the Pakatan strongholds of Seremban and Rasah.

In his speech, Anwar repeated his challenge to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to an open debate in response to the latter’s oft-repeated remark that Pakatan was making empty promises.

“I tell you again, we will reduce fuel prices the day after we take over Putrajaya,” he told the multiracial crowd.

“In two weeks, we will reduce the electricity tariffs. We will give an ultimatum to the independent power producers to come up with new rates within two weeks.

“We will abolish the highway tolls.

“But Najib says I’m making empty promises. Let us run the government and we’ll show you. If Najib thinks I’m bluffing, let us have an open debate and let the public decide who is bluffing.”

‘Please save the country’

Also at the event were PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, state PAS commissioner Mohd Taufek Abdul Ghani, state PKR chairman Kamarul Baharin Abbas and state DAP chairman Loke Siew Fook.

Malays, Chinese and Indians stood shoulder to shoulder listening as Anwar spoke on diverse subjects, ranging from local concerns to his sodomy trial to national issues such as bad governance and systemic corruption.

Gemas is where the beleaguered National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) has its farm. Speaking about PKR’s series of exposé of alleged corruption in NFC, Anwar said it was unfair that the government charge only two percent interest on its loan to the corporation but double the rate on loans given to civil servants.

“Please save the country before it goes bankrupt,” he told the crowd. “The government must be changed in the coming general election.”

According to Tampin PAS chief Zakaria Khalim, Gemas, which hosts a large army camp, has 19,369 voters, including 3,384 postal voters.

Gemas is a state seat within the parliamentary constituency of Tampin. There are six Felda schemes in the area, giving Barisan Nasional a great advantage in any election as Felda folk are known to be hardcore Umno supporters.

Each of the Felda schemes had about a thousand voters.

“Gemas has never been an easy place for us to get support,” Zakaria said.

Strategic reasons
However, he added, the NFC scandal might have opened the eyes of voters in the area, including the Felda settlers.

“Tampin Umno is feeling the heat,” he said. “All of a sudden, the sleeping Tampin Umno is awake. Lately, we have been prevented from having our ceramahs, even at the Repah DAP service centre.

“Somehow, for strategic reasons, the Negri Sembilan Pakatan Rakyat council decided to launch the election manifesto in Gemas.

“Our nightmare started last week when all the posters, buntings and banners along the Tampin-Gemas federal road were torn and removed by the Tampin District Council.”

The removal of the materials resulted in a fight last Monday between district enforcement officers and five Tampin PAS members. Police arrested the PAS five, who included information officer Zainil Suboh, and held them in remand for three days.

“My men were returning from Gemas after sticking the posters, when they noticed a few guys tearing them down,” Zakaria said. “When they approached the vandals, they tried to run away and a fight ensued.

“Both sides lodged police reports, but my men were remanded for obstructing civil servants carrying out their work.

“The issue here is why did they try to run away, why weren’t they in uniform and why didn’t they show their identification?”