The Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat yesterday, dubbed ‘KL112', which drew more than 100,000 people to Stadium Merdeka and its vicinity, was the largest opposition-organised gathering in recent history.
It is also the first rally of this proportion that came and went peacefully, in contrast to the Bersih 3.0 protest last year that saw a heavy police crackdown as the rally had begun dispersing.
Notable in this morning's mainstream media coverage of the mammoth event was an overall negative spin from pro-government English and Malay dailies's headlines, while the Chinese dailies broke ranks by giving it a generally good report.
Heading the bashing was the New Sunday Times (the Sunday version of the New Straits Times) whose headlines screamed ‘Simply Irresponsible' over a mosaic of unrelated photographs with a clear thread.
It is also the first rally of this proportion that came and went peacefully, in contrast to the Bersih 3.0 protest last year that saw a heavy police crackdown as the rally had begun dispersing.
Notable in this morning's mainstream media coverage of the mammoth event was an overall negative spin from pro-government English and Malay dailies's headlines, while the Chinese dailies broke ranks by giving it a generally good report.Heading the bashing was the New Sunday Times (the Sunday version of the New Straits Times) whose headlines screamed ‘Simply Irresponsible' over a mosaic of unrelated photographs with a clear thread.
The top photograph showed a lady shutting the grills of her shop but leaving open a small gap as she peered out, possibly suggesting her looking at the protesters.
A second picture showed rubbish strewn across the pavement and the third showed an exhausted toddler clad in a yellow rally T-shirt asleep at his bicycle. There was no picture of the rally on the front page.
Three bullets supported the headline reading: ‘Children, banners with provocative messages present', ‘Anwar threatens trouble if Pakatan loses election', ‘Rally organisers did not adhere to all conditions, says Police'.
Sunday Star (The Star) took a more neutral headline ‘Incident-Free'.
It noted that nothing untoward happened during the rally and the police had kept the peace despite keeping a low profile.
It also reported that organisers had infringed three conditions laid out for the rally, namely for bringing children to the event, carrying provocative banners and breaching the 30,000 capacity limit allowed for Stadium Merdeka.
The paper featured a section of the stadium where Pakatan Rakyat top guns stood on the podium alongside of PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu who was addressing the crowd.
Supporters, mostly clad in yellow and green T-shirts, dotted the landscape around the podium.
Berita Harian's cold shoulder
Umno-owned Migguan Malaysia (Utusan Malaysia) predictably headlined, ‘Organisers breach rules' with a sub-headline: ‘Police successfully control opposition rally'.
In a series of bullets below, the daily said the police had done well but participants went against the rules by bringing children under the age of 15 and ‘seditious' banners that could lead to ‘division and animosity'.
The bullets also reported a blog's claim that participants were paid between RM200 to RM700 each.
Propping the headline was a mosaic of three pictures of parents carrying their children at the rally, with the caption ‘Inviting danger'.
Significantly, Umno-linked Berita Harian frontpaged nothing about the historic rally. Absolutely nothing.
It frontpaged instead Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak promising to resolve Selangor's purported water woes at a rally in Semenyih coupled with a large photograph of the premier shaking hands with supporters.
The headline was of Johor Islamic Affairs Council advisor Nooh Gadut warning that allowing non-Muslims to use the term 'Allah' could allegedly lead to apostasy.
The daily only reported the KL112 rally briefly on page 10 and 11, with one piece ‘KL112' fails to achieve targeted 1 million (turnout)' reporting the event as a failure of sorts and that it breached several conditions, following Dang Wangi police station's press conferenceyesterday.
The other two stories praised the police with the subheading ‘Forces succeed in overcoming violent incidents' and the other on an alleged brawl amongst opposition supporters ‘Nik Aziz, Anwar followers quarrel'.
The latter quotes an unidentified witness saying he saw shoving and a fistfight at the stadium entrance that had to be broken up by the police.
Sinar, Chinese dailies give thumbs up
Malay daily Sinar Harian however broke the pattern headlining the rally with ‘Congratulations' and the iconic photograph of an aerial shot of the venue.
It showed Stadium Merdeka filled to the brim from its seats to the field, as well as supporters packing the surrounding of the stadium and overflowing onto the road in front of the stadium.
In its description, the daily congratulated the rally organisers, the Home Ministry, the police, local authorities and the stadium management for a smooth event with no untoward incidents.
In contrast, all major Chinese dailies -Sin Chew Daily, China Press, Oriental Daily, Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Guang Ming Daily - reported on positive aspects of the rally and noted its massive scale, using a similar photograph, that has managed to capture a bird's eye view of the overall massive crowd at the event's climax.
Guang Ming Daily gave it a clear thumbs up headlining, ‘Good show',Oriental Daily frontpaged ‘KL rally draws 100,000. People rally peacefully' while China Press ambiguously teased, ‘Stadium Merdeka has changed colour. What do you think?'.
Sin Chew Dailyled with ‘Mega-rally peaceful and boisterous', with this morning's edition seeing a photograph of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's event in Semenyih that was in last evening's late edition frontpage, removed.
It was replaced with more photographs from the Stadium Merdeka event.
A second picture showed rubbish strewn across the pavement and the third showed an exhausted toddler clad in a yellow rally T-shirt asleep at his bicycle. There was no picture of the rally on the front page.
Three bullets supported the headline reading: ‘Children, banners with provocative messages present', ‘Anwar threatens trouble if Pakatan loses election', ‘Rally organisers did not adhere to all conditions, says Police'.
Sunday Star (The Star) took a more neutral headline ‘Incident-Free'.It noted that nothing untoward happened during the rally and the police had kept the peace despite keeping a low profile.
It also reported that organisers had infringed three conditions laid out for the rally, namely for bringing children to the event, carrying provocative banners and breaching the 30,000 capacity limit allowed for Stadium Merdeka.
The paper featured a section of the stadium where Pakatan Rakyat top guns stood on the podium alongside of PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu who was addressing the crowd.
Supporters, mostly clad in yellow and green T-shirts, dotted the landscape around the podium.
Berita Harian's cold shoulder
Umno-owned Migguan Malaysia (Utusan Malaysia) predictably headlined, ‘Organisers breach rules' with a sub-headline: ‘Police successfully control opposition rally'.
In a series of bullets below, the daily said the police had done well but participants went against the rules by bringing children under the age of 15 and ‘seditious' banners that could lead to ‘division and animosity'.The bullets also reported a blog's claim that participants were paid between RM200 to RM700 each.
Propping the headline was a mosaic of three pictures of parents carrying their children at the rally, with the caption ‘Inviting danger'.
Significantly, Umno-linked Berita Harian frontpaged nothing about the historic rally. Absolutely nothing.
It frontpaged instead Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak promising to resolve Selangor's purported water woes at a rally in Semenyih coupled with a large photograph of the premier shaking hands with supporters.
The headline was of Johor Islamic Affairs Council advisor Nooh Gadut warning that allowing non-Muslims to use the term 'Allah' could allegedly lead to apostasy.
The daily only reported the KL112 rally briefly on page 10 and 11, with one piece ‘KL112' fails to achieve targeted 1 million (turnout)' reporting the event as a failure of sorts and that it breached several conditions, following Dang Wangi police station's press conferenceyesterday.
The other two stories praised the police with the subheading ‘Forces succeed in overcoming violent incidents' and the other on an alleged brawl amongst opposition supporters ‘Nik Aziz, Anwar followers quarrel'.
The latter quotes an unidentified witness saying he saw shoving and a fistfight at the stadium entrance that had to be broken up by the police.
Sinar, Chinese dailies give thumbs up
Malay daily Sinar Harian however broke the pattern headlining the rally with ‘Congratulations' and the iconic photograph of an aerial shot of the venue.
It showed Stadium Merdeka filled to the brim from its seats to the field, as well as supporters packing the surrounding of the stadium and overflowing onto the road in front of the stadium.In its description, the daily congratulated the rally organisers, the Home Ministry, the police, local authorities and the stadium management for a smooth event with no untoward incidents.
In contrast, all major Chinese dailies -Sin Chew Daily, China Press, Oriental Daily, Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Guang Ming Daily - reported on positive aspects of the rally and noted its massive scale, using a similar photograph, that has managed to capture a bird's eye view of the overall massive crowd at the event's climax.
Guang Ming Daily gave it a clear thumbs up headlining, ‘Good show',Oriental Daily frontpaged ‘KL rally draws 100,000. People rally peacefully' while China Press ambiguously teased, ‘Stadium Merdeka has changed colour. What do you think?'.
Sin Chew Dailyled with ‘Mega-rally peaceful and boisterous', with this morning's edition seeing a photograph of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's event in Semenyih that was in last evening's late edition frontpage, removed.It was replaced with more photographs from the Stadium Merdeka event.
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