“Makkal Sakthi (People Power)!” thundered speaker after speaker.
“Valga (Long live)!” roared back the crowd.
I thought I would check out the atmosphere at the DAP ceramah at the Penang Chinese Town Hall in George Town tonight. The theme: “Bebaskan Hindraf 5 (Free the Hindraf Five).”
When I arrived at the hall at around 8.00pm, it was full. More people were arriving and soon they were spilling out of the hall, where two screens had been put up for those outside to watch the proceedings.
Total turnout was around 3,000, including the few hundred outside the hall.
This was not your typical DAP ceramah. I have covered ceramahs in Penang for some years – and this was unlike any I had seen. Instead of an 80 per cent ethnic Chinese crowd, this time Indian Malaysians made up more than 90 per cent of the crowd. Instead of speaking in English and Chinese, the DAP speakers spoke largely in Malay and Tamil and some English. The Chinese Malaysians who turned up looked bemused and a bit taken aback to find themselve in a minority this time! One Chinese woman, a stranger, turned to me and remarked, “After 50 years of Independence, you have finally woken up” – which sounded a bit strange; she was talkng as if I represented the entire Indian Malaysian community in the country!
I was more interested in observing the crowd. Of course, the middle-class were represented, but I saw many – men and women – who looked like they had come from tough or difficult backgrounds, the lower-income group. Were they manual workers, casual labourers, unemployed, or factory workers, I wondered. Many of them looked like they were coming to a political ceramah for the first time.
They all seemed eager to snap up reading material such as The Rocket and Aliran Monthly, which were being sold outside.
The DAP made a conscious effort to project the Indian Malaysians in their ranks such as Karpal, Kula, Prof Ramasamy, Guna, and Sivanesan. Also on stage were Kit Siang, Chong Eng and was that Jeff Ooi?
Guan Eng told the crowd he had asked quite a few Hindus what they were praying for on Thaipusam and they replied, “For the release of the Hindraf Five.”
“But what did Abdullah Badawi give you?” he asked. “A public holiday!”
He also poked fun at Lingam’s “it looks like me; it sounds like me”.
The crowd laughed, knowingly, at the farce.
As for the Hindraf leaders who are now on a hunger strike, someone told me there was a joke going around that if ever Uthayakumar, who is a diabetic, needed a blood transfusion, the authorities would be wary of appealing to the public for blood donations. That’s because they would have to call in the FRU to control the thousands who would queue up to give blood!
All the DAP speakers received a rousing welcome as they entered the hall, including a big cheer for Karpal, who is the senior lawyer for the Hindraf leaders under detention. Karpal, speaking while seated on the stage, told the crowd the DAP was “adopting” Makkal Sakthi.
At another desk outside the hall, a couple of DAP volunteers were giving out forms to those who wanted to sign up as polling day volunteers to assist the party. About half a dozen young Indian Malaysians were busy filling up the forms.
I asked the DAP volunteer at the desk how many people had signed up. She flicked through the stack of forms and counted around 30. Others had taken forms, promising to return them later, she said.
From the back of the hall, I could see the a sprinkling of folks who had come in the orange attire of Makkal Sakthi, including the Makkal Sakthi T-shirts.
A visitor from KL told me, the mood here seemed more enthusiastic than in KL. “Perhaps it’s because the folks over in KL have quite a few different events to choose from.”
On my way back home, I walked past the Pitt Street Corner Bar, a stone’s throw from the Chinese Town Hall. It is usually an oasis for those seeking “refreshments” on a Saturday night. Today, it looked rather quiet from outside – a few empty tables inside – despite the presence of a large crowd nearby.
Even as more Malaysians were being detained in KL earlier today, the mood in Penang – at least among these 3,000 people – was one of newfound strength and solidarity, a community that had awakened from their slumber.
And the mood was infectious. Even the Chinese DAP volunteers outside were calling out, “Makkal Sakthi!“
Valga!
