Pas leaders have urged their youth divisions in Perak to be prepared to play a key role in the next state election.
Perak Pas Youth listen to calls for them to go all out in the next state election
Nizar rallies the youth – Photos by AA
1600: The event ends with the youths taking an oath to work hard to oppose Umno in the next state election.
1540: Mahfuz, a addressing the crowd of about a thousand, says the youths have an important role to play in transforming the nation. He knows the youth are enthusiastic for not only Perak but the whole of Malaysia to come under Pakatan in the next elections. The outcome of the next elections, however, will largely depend on the younger generation, the new voters.
1530: Nizar asks the crowd, who is responsible for the cow-head and the boar-head. He says people are not easily fooled, but warns them not to succumb to any provocation. He reads a Quran’ic verse about God who has created diverse tribes from male and female so that people can respect and get acquainted with one another.
Photo courtesy of Laman Rasmi Wartawan Reformasi.
Nizar rejects Umno’s “ketuanan Melayu” politics in favour of the “new politics of Malaysia”. The Pas youths are soaking it up.
He then leads the crowd with chants of “Bubar, bubar, bubar Dun Perak!”
1520: As Nizar speaks, a Perak-based journalist standing near me tells me knowingly that a snap election is a distinct possibility. Nizar, on the stage, rallies the crowd to oppose Umno.
1520: Nizar refers to how Umno has been using the Allah issue to stir communal sentiments. He laments that Pas had been maligned in the past as an extremist party – which made many of the non-Muslims reject Pas. But since 8 March 2008, he adds, many non-Muslims have been able to see Pas policies in practice and they are now more comfortable with the party.
1510: Nizar, referred to as “MB yang sah” takes to the stage, as youths at the back ask those in front to sit down so that they can get a better view. Nizar takes an immediate swipe at Umno for “betraying” the people’s interest.
Election fever is beginning to grip Perakians. The women folk are fanning themselves with folded sheets of paper to keep away the heat.
1500: About a thousand Pas supporters, mostly youths, are looking forward to speeches by Nizar, Mahfuz and others. I am seated in the field as the the speaker leads the crowd in cries of Takbir! No official announcement of any election date has been made, but that hasn’t stopped youths wearing their lime-green T-shirts with the words “Jentera Pilihanraya Pemuda Perak” on the back. The event is dubbed Himpunan Pemuda Pas Perak 2010 or “Hempap 2010″. Hempap indicates some sort of ‘wrestling match’; it is obvious that Perak Pas doesn’t want to be caught by sucker punch in case of a snap state election.
A teenager sitting on the field in front of me is also wearing a lime-coloured T-shirt. Beneath a small logo of Pas are the words “Orang Muda Geng Kita“.
1450:Greetings from an open field in Kubu Gajah, where representatives of Pas youth wings from all over Perak have gathered under a sweltering afternoon sun in the rustic rural setting of Selama, northern Perak near the border with Kedah.
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