Hari Malaysia (Anti-ISA) Rally @ The Petaling Jaya Stadium

[Adrian Wong]

Just came back from the Petaling Jaya Stadium, which most of us know as the Kelana Jaya Stadium. What a day!

I arrived at around 8:40 pm. The stadium was still quite empty. I estimated the number at this point of time to be about 5,000. When I arrived, the Maghrib and Isha prayers were underway.

Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and the DAP delegation arrived around 9:15 pm, followed by the Selangor MB, Khalid Ibrahim. More people were arriving by this time. I guess most Malaysians were choosing only to come at 9-10 pm.

RPK's wife, Marina Lee Abdullah, then arrived to loud cheers and applause. Anwar was the last to arrive at close to 10 pm. The event proper started soon after he arrived. The crowd doubled to about 10 K at this point.

Lim Guan Eng was the second to speak and boy, did he fire up the crowd! That man sure can speak. He was followed by the Selangor Chief Minister, Khalid Ibrahim, who continued to poke at the BN government and ISA.

When Lim Kit Siang took over at around 10:30 pm, the crowd was even larger at around 11K. He talked about Malaysia Day. If the Pakatan Rakyat takes over power, Malaysia Day (or as they call it, Hari Merdeka Malaysia) would be a national holiday, with the same status as Independence Day.

Then he started asking if the people wanted 916 to happen. Everyone went wild, chanting 916! 916! 916! He then said that when the Pakatan Rakyat gains power, their first act would be to abolish the ISA and free everyone imprisoned by this draconian law. That set everyone off again, chanting 916!

The stadium field was almost filled by this time. I estimate the number to be around 12K. However, other reporters seemed to think it's more like twice the number. Some said it was around 20K, others quoted 25K. Seems like my estimate was really on the low end!

Anyway, Anwar took over from Uncle Lim. When he stood up, everyone started chanting Reformasi! Reformasi! Reformasi!

His speech was longer than the others. This time, he was not as fiery as Lim Kit Siang or Lim Guan Eng but he was the one everyone wanted to hear from. I suppose they were all waiting for him to announce the takeover!

He touched on a couple of things, including the ISA, of course. He particularly criticized the police for arresting the Sin Chew Jit Poh reporter under the pretext of "protecting" her. The best part came when he joked that if the police protected people this way, they should go "protect" the Prime Minister from the takeover.

He also spoke about the nonsensical charges that got the Seputeh MP, Teresa Kok arrested under ISA as well. He said that some people were trying to incite the Malays against the non-Malays. But he says they will fail because Malays are well-known for their culture and politeness. The Malays will never believe in the BN lies about the non-Malays infringing on their rights.

He also thanked the de-facto Law Minister, Zaid Ibrahim, for having the courage to resign. He said he will have good news (for Zaid) in a few days.

He then mentioned something about sending some PR representatives (from PKR, DAP and PAS) to ask the PM to resign / transfer power peacefully.

He then reiterated that tomorrow, September 16, is D-Day... and that they are ready to move. When he said that they are on track, they are on track. They have enough MPs to proceed with the power transition.

However, he does not want to just take power. He wants the transition of power to be peaceful, so there will be a delay because they want to sit down with the government to discuss a peaceful transition of power. He asked the PM, Abdullah Badawi, how much time does he need (to transfer power)? One week? Two weeks?

Before he ended his speech, he repeated that it all begins tomorrow. He then asked everyone to fly the national flag tomorrow as a sign of support. With that, Anwar ended his speech.

Below are some pictures I took at the event. Please forgive the blurry pictures and bad angles. There were so many people (including journalists) jostling for position and good shots!

Update : Please read and sign this Anti-ISA petition - Free Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Teresa Kok and Others Held Under the Internal Security Act Petition and get your friends and family members to do so too!!!

[Adrian Wong]

More pictures of the event!

Picture #1 : The crowd sure loved waving the flag!

Picture #3 & #4 : That's Marina Lee Abdullah, RPK's wife! Everyone started clapping when they saw her!

Picture #5 : Singing the national anthem.

[Adrian Wong]

Even more pictures!

[Adrian Wong]

Last set of pictures!

Look at the crowd! I'm not sure if that's 12K or 25K but the field was almost full.

[Dashken]

Eh, why all standing one? I went to all the rallys and talks, everyone was shouting "Eh, depan duduk... depan duduk" (Those in front, please sit)

Woohoo! Reformasi! Reformasi! Reformasi!

[marc]

wow. all the big key players were there. must've been an awesome experience! from your report, they really did sound serious and firm in their speeches. let's hope for the best!

[The_YongGrand]

Wow, it is a good one! Great photoes, Dr!

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Dashken

Eh, why all standing one? I went to all the rallys and talks, everyone was shouting "Eh, depan duduk... depan duduk" (Those in front, please sit)

Woohoo! Reformasi! Reformasi! Reformasi!

Because the bigshots were on an elevated platform. So even if everyone stands up, they can still see them very well. Besides, you can get closer if you stand.

[strawroot]

wow so crowded!

[ZuePhok]

any new updates?
i just received a msg saying anwar has more than 31mp agreed to cross over.