[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 16 Aug 1999
Time: 02:07:54
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Laporan ini kurang tepat kerana:-
1. Tetamu meninggalkan tempat bila Si Kepala Taik berucap. 2. Kehadiran di Serting bukan 8,000 orang kerana RTM sendiri tidak berani memfokus hadirin. Sebaliknya mereka memfokus kepada Si Kepala Taik sahaja. 3. Wujudnya bendera-bendera pakatan alternatif sepanjang jalan-jalan itu membuktikan penentangan kuat terhadap kepimpinan Si Kepala Taik. 4. Ucapan-ucapan Si Kepala Taik tidak meyakinkan rakyat untuk mempercayai kata-katanya.
============================================================================================================================== Solid backing for Mahathir by Negri folk
Less than 24 hours after Datuk Azhar Mansor showed the way with the Malaysia Boleh spirit, the organisers of the people's dinner with Datuk Seri Seri Mahathir Mohamad in Seremban obviously took the cue from the sailor's success -- by holding the largest dinner gathering in Malaysia to welcome the Prime Minister, reports Mergawati Zulkafar.
WHEN Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad arrived at the Seremban Municipal Council field on Thursday night, there was a feeling of deja vu.
Malaysia Berjaya was ringing in the air, reminding those present at the people's dinner with the Prime Minister of the Malaysia Boleh spirit just like 24 hours earlier when the same song greeted Datuk Azhar Mansor the moment he stepped ashore in Langkawi having completed his solo world trip.
The 2,360 tables had long been occupied and for the non-diners, the steps leading to the municipal council office were the best place to view the Prime Minister.
An old Chinese man, oblivious to the occasion, was going from one table to another selling lottery tickets. Another man was busy selling picture frames.
Mentri Besar Tan Sri Isa Samad assured Dr Mahathir that except for the Prime Minister's entourage, the more than 30,000 people who were present that night were local folk all from Nogori (the Minangkabau pronounciation for Negri).
"We show the Prime Minister the strength of Negri Sembilan lies in its own people who continue to support Barisan Nasional.
"Nobody here is from outside. They are 100% Negri voters," he said to loud approval from the crowd.
His aide whispered that PAS leaders who had been holding ceramahs in the state attracted huge crowds but most came in vehicles with Kedah or Kelantan registration plates.
"I have gone to these ceramahs myself and you can hear northern or Kelantan dialects around you and definitely not Negri dialect," he said.
The next day at Felda Serting, some 80km from Seremban, Isa, who accompanied Dr Mahathir to a meet-the-people session, did not mince his words when he said that some of the Felda settlers had lost their "alignment" because of the opposition's influence.
"The Prime Minister is here today and you can hear for yourself what he has to say and I hope you will not be miong-miong (wrongly affiliated) any longer after this," he said to the 8,000-strong crowd who braved the scorching heat at a school field.
True to Isa's words, Dr Mahathir's entourage, who went for a visit to an exemplary settler's house in Serting, was greeted with Parti Keadilan Nasional and PAS flags along the road leading to Padzillah Md Sawi's house.
A neighbour on the opposite side of the road put up several posters of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim holding up his fist. They were obviously brand new and had just been put up.
The Prime Minister, who has been on a nationwide tour in the last few months, has been stressing on the need to retain the Barisan Government.
During his visit to Malacca earlier in the week, he drove home the point when he said that opposition parties could neither deliver the goods nor uphold democracy.
They were, he said, only interested in power and position and only worked together during the elections.
He said PAS had already promised to close TV stations and newspaper companies which did not support the opposition while the DAP members could not even criticise their leader Lim Kit Siang.
Among the 20,000 people who got drenched in the rain in Tangga Batu at the meet-the-people session was an elderly man who had a happy look on his face, hardly taking his eyes from the stage where Dr Mahathir was talking.
He sought refuge under a reporter's umbrella and when asked why he looked happy, his reply was: "I managed to shake Dr Mahathir's hand when he arrived."
As heavy rain started many went under the VIP tent and a young mother with her baby ignored the crowd and made herself at home by sitting on the sofa reserved for VIPs.
When Dr Mahathir made his way to the tent after his speech, she was among the lucky ones to be in the front row and greeted him.
The Prime Minister will be away for a working visit abroad until Aug 23 and his roadshow is expected to resume in early September in Pahang.
According to pundits, by then the Pahang visit may be during the campaign period for the general election but then, they may be proven wrong yet again.