10,000 crowd DAP’s final Sibu rally

Pictured by Panzer UO

SIBU, May 16 — DAP pulled in more than 10,000 people at its biggest public rally here last night when ending the campaign for the Sibu by-election, promising a close fight for the parliamentary seat.

All Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders, Lim Guan Eng, PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang spoke at the rally held just outside the town centre. This is DAP’s first by-election since Election 2008.

The rally was held simultaneously with local timber giant Rimbunan Hijau 35th anniversary celebration which saw a fireworks display lighting up the town’s skyline.

The fireworks interrupted DAP Perak secretary Nga Kor Ming’s speech who later asked the crowd to take advantage of the show by singing the party’s song.

DAP candidate Wong Ho Leng was also one of the speakers at the rally, telling voters not to be taken in by various financial allocations promised by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

Picture by Panzer UO

“Whatever amount of money thrown into Sibu, your votes must go to Pakatan,” said Wong who is also the state party chairman.

Earlier, BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak spoke at another rally in the DAP stronghold of Rejang Park where he promised RM5 million for flood mitigation projects if coalition candidate Robert Lau Hui Yew wins today’s election.

Najib had also presented a total RM15 million to Sibu’s Chinese schools in his first visit last week.

The DAP rally ended with a speech by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who declared that a victory would pave the way for PR to take over the state in the next state election that must be held by July next year.

The DAP secretary-general also reminded the crowd that Wong’s victory is crucial as it would stop BN from regaining two-thirds majority in Parliament.

The ruling coalition needs another 10 seats in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat to obtain the two-thirds majority which it lost in Election 2008. But it can now count on the support of at least six independents in the House.

Wong is facing BN’s Robert Lau Hui Yew and independent Narawi Haron.

In the last general election, BN won the seat by 3,345 votes in a three-cornered fight against Wong and PKR’s Lim Chin Chuang.

This by-election has been described as a close race by both BN and DAP leaders which is believed to have caused Najib’s surprise visit last night.

Polling begins at 8am and ends at 5pm. Results are expected to be known by 9pm at the latest.


The Malaysian Insider