A huge crowd has turned up for a PR ceramah at Section 19 in Shah Alam tonight, despite the last minute info. The ceramah is being held to explain the situation in Perak.
An eye-witness at the scene decribes the turnout at the ceramah, which is still in progress (as at 11.30pm) at the Dewan Bola Tampar MBSA, as “fantastic”. Some 3,000 people are packed indoors while another 5,000 are outside in the car-park and spilling over into the tennis court.
Noisy protest against Class 3 and 4 hillslope development projects
They call it ‘cacerolazo‘ or ‘cacerolada‘ in Latin America – that’s a form of protest involving a group of people creating a racket by banging pots, pans and other utensils to draw attention to their cause.
This afternoon, in Tanjung Bunga, residents used this form of protest to loud effect during a Valentine’s Day ‘tea party’ to protest at property development projects on steep hill-slopes. Some one hundred residents turned up in Chee Seng Garden in front of the Bolton Surin project, calling on the Chief Minister and the state government to stop the project for good.
Perak Mentri Besar Nizar and his BN-appointed rival counterpart Zambry were both allowed into the Perak Sultan’s palace this evening to attend the royal banquet to mark the Sultan’s silver jubilee. It’s the first time that both of them are at the same place at the same time. Nizar was accompanied by Perak DAP chairman Ngeh.
The NST has the story here.
Manufacturing hurtles down a cliff Source: Statistics Department, Malaysia
There are three components to our Industrial Production Index — manufacturing, mining and electricity. Manufacturing (see dotted line), the most crucial, appears to be in free fall by December.
Manufacturing accounts for 71 per cent of the Index and contributes 28 per cent of GDP. It also employs 20 per cent of workers. And then there’s the ‘multiplier effect’ on the rest of the economy.
BN/Umno flags already fluttering in the Taiping-Bukit Gantang area Photo by Jong
A couple of different sources have alerted me to a fairly large police presence – perhaps a hundred or more – around Karpal Singh’s residence in Penang.
Riot police trucks are in the area and roads blocks have been set up around the Waterfall Road/Western Road area.
Reports blog reader tan, tanjung bunga:
I passed Karpal Singh’s residence at around 3.00 pm: lots of FRU personnel and other policemen in the vicinity of his residence, with FRU personnel also lining-up in front of his gate and dozens of media people positioned opposite the gate. You can imagine the traffic jams in the whole area!
From your post, it’s possible that the security personnel are trying to protect Karpal’s residence from the Umno demonstrators! Congrats to them then for protecting a citizen!
The Election Commission has fixed 29 March as nomination day and polling day on 7 April for both the Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau by-elections.
Nomination day thus falls a day after the Umno general assembly concludes on 28 March.
A new billboard in KL has sparked speculation over Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s political future.
The billboard, along Jalan Syed Putra near the turnoff to Taman Seputeh, features a large portrait of Abdullah Badawi, at least 10 feet high, with the words “Opinions Ideas appreciated, viewpoints welcomed”. It also includes his email a website address.
Blog reader lanwm spotted the billboard too:
I was like I can’t believe my eyes when I saw that huge billboard with his face! I tried covering it with my hands but it was just too huge to be covered!
The question that a few are asking is, why would a Prime Minister who is leaving office soon want to solicit public views during the twilight days of his administration?
Human rights lawyer and activist Malik Imtiaz Sarwar attempts to dissect some of the constitutional and historical issues surrounding the current political crisis in Perak.
Cool customer: Nizar attempted to report for work in a hugely symbolic gesture that raised his profile and won him new admirers Photo courtesy of Wartawan Rasmi Laman Reformasi; More pictures here
IPOH, Perak, Feb 10 (IPS) – During a tense press conference, in the midst of the current constitutional crisis in this state, peninsular Malaysia’s second largest, a reporter’s MP3 recorder/handphone began ringing.
The embattled chief minister Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin picked up the phone and pretended to answer it. “Hello? Oh, it’s Barack Obama, thank you, thank you, thanks for your support. I appreciate that, Mr President. I think you are wonderful.”
The reporters burst out laughing.