A screenshot of the page tonight.
The proposed 100-storey building in the city, has stirred up spontaneous grassroots opposition, moving the issue to the front and centre of current Malaysian politics.
More so impressive is the pace of recruitment — that only seven days ago Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the plan, during his budget speech. It is clear the groundswell opposing it is considerable and now has shaped into a major political minefield for the Barisan Nasional(BN) government.
It began with the Facebook page “1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower” being created anonymously soon after the announcement.
Those who have backed the campaign are ordinary Malaysians who use the popular social networking site.
“Malaysians saying no to the RM5-Billion 100-storey Mega Tower proposed by PM Najib in the 2011 budget. Malaysia needs better education, better health care, better public transportation, safer neighbourhood, cleaner water, but not taller building(s). We don’t need another white elephant! Are you ready for action?
“Announcement to be made when we reach 100,000,” said the administrator of the Facebook page earlier today.
Last Friday, Najib announced Permodalan Nasional Berhad’s (PNB) initiative to complete the RM5 billion construct by 2015.
“A few months ago,some Minister said that the country will be going bankrupt if subsidies are not withdrawn.... so this is why the subsidies were withdrawn... to build another “Mega White Elephant “ project.
“While the people suffer, our leaders are finding more ways to rob the nations depleting wealth !!At this rate in 20...20 Malaysia will become a fully developed Zimbabwe or worse!!” said one of the comments on the page by a Natalie Ho.
Another fan, Kirksman Teo claimed that the government’s push for the building indicated that they had learnt the lesson from their losses in the last general elections.
“A leader once said, the people should not fear the government, the government should. Rightly so.
“Now... Why the devil does the government refuse to listen to the people once again?... Knowing very well that the last time they lost, it was because they didn’t listen,” said Kirksman.
Expectedly, opposition politicians like DAP’s Lim Kit Siang have entered the fray, providing live updates of the growing number of Facebook fans every hour.
The anti-Warisan Merdeka Facebook page has 102,739 fans as at 10.21pm tonight.
In contrast, a pro-Warisan Merdeka fanpage on Facebook has only 244 members as at the same time.
The Najib administration could now be faced with a major hurdle in winning over support for what was supposed to be a symbol and pride for all Malaysians.
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