Thousands throng national Hari Raya open house

Thousands turned up at the federal government's Hari Raya open house in Permatang Pauh today as a massive traffic congested roads leading to the venue today.

It was a carnival-like atmosphere at the venue, despite the earlier heavy rainfall and muddy grounds.

The event started at 11am, with Prime Minister Najib Razak arriving at about 12.05pm, accompanied by federal minister and Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Information, Communication and Culture minister Rais Yatim, and Tourism minister Ng Yen Yen had arrived earlier at the event.

During his welcoming speech, Rais said he was uncertain of the number of participants at the event, but estimated the crowd to be 20,000.

"I asked Penang Chief Police Officer Ayub Yaacob how big is the crowd and he whispered in my ears that it is not less than 25,000 people," he added.

Rais later told reporters that the overwhelming response to the
open house reflected the strong and harmonious relationships between the people and the leaders.

The gathering also reflected the success of the 1Malaysia and government transformation programmes.

"Various races have been working together in realising this open house, it reflects something positive under the concept of 1Malaysia and government transformation," Bernama quoted him as saying.

Umno Permatang Pauh division chief Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid reminded the crowd that today is the anniversary of the Sep 11 twin tower tragedy in America.

He warned that today would also see a big change in Permatang Pauh, which is the home turf and constituency of Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

"A blessing has come down upon us," he exclaimed.

Last week Anwar had said that BN was fixated with him for planning the event in his area.

He nevertheless urged the public to attend the function in droves.

"It rained from 1am - 9am, but the rakyat had already gathered at the venue since 8am! This is the right spirit," said Abdul Jalil.

"We would like to say that we support the prime minister with all our hearts."

During his speech, Najib tried to rationalise the government's cordial ties with present-day communist countries by making comparisons with the communist during the Cold War.

He said the communist in the past were "different" from the ones we find today.

"In the past, the communists killed people cruelly, they were anti-religion and anti-god," he said during his speech.

"However, we are good with communist (countries) today because they have left their old ideology," he added.

"Since they want to be good to us, we are also good to them. If they respect us, we respect them," he stressed.

Najib reiterated that the earlier communists in the country wanted to "attack us" with ideologies that were unacceptable.

He warned the people not to allow anyone alter history or idolise the Communists who were "cruel and murderers".

After his speech, Najib ended the event by beating a ceremonial gong seven times, followed by the crowd shouting "1 Malaysia' and "Merdeka'.

It is learnt that the government had hired 200 buses to ferry people from all over Permatang Pauh to attend the event.

During the do, Najib presented RM10,000 each to four veteran independence-era heroes - Md Noor Ahmad, Aubramaniam Arumugam and Oon Choo Eng @ Oon Chye Khye and Mohd Yussof Abdul Latiff.

He also handed hampers to 10 less-fortunate individuals and 1Malaysia netbooks to 10 excellent students.

More pictures:

PICTURES COURTESY OF IHSAN ROSLAN ABU BAKAR @ LAN SEMUT (AGENDADAILY)