{"id":3874,"date":"2013-02-19T13:47:58","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T05:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=3874"},"modified":"2013-02-20T17:12:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T09:12:00","slug":"i-love-new-pm-anwar-banners-held-up-at-dong-zong-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/i-love-new-pm-anwar-banners-held-up-at-dong-zong-event\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI love new PM Anwar\u201d banners held up at Dong Zong event"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

PThe amended “I love PM” banners being held up by the attendees upon Anwar’s arrival at the Dong Zong open house.<\/p><\/div>\n

KAJANG, 17 Feb \u2013 During what could be Malaysia\u2019s most politically charged Chinese New Year festivities \u2014 observed on the verge of the country\u2019s expectedly tightest-fought general election \u2014 many surprises were in store, most strikingly for the Prime Minister Najib Razak.<\/p>\n

Having to take a walk of shame out of Penang after putting a disastrous show that involved a million-ringgit invitation of the South Korean sensation, Psy, Najib was set for more surprises \u2014 staged by none other than Malaysians themselves.<\/p>\n

Najib and his entourage\u2019s attendance to a Chinese New Year open house hosted by the Chinese educationist group Dong Zong was reported to have received a \u2018lukewarm\u2019 response. The lackluster reception was even more striking, given the ‘historic’ occasion as Najib is the first Prime Minister to grace the Dong Zong open house since its formation.<\/p>\n

According to a report by\u00a0Malaysiakini<\/em>, some of the attendees had instead \u2018mischievously\u2019 amended the \u201cI love PM\u201d banners addressed to Najib, to \u201cI love new PM Anwar\u201d instead, adding the words \u2018new\u2019 and \u2018Anwar\u2019 to the already pervasive banners usually handed out at events with Najib\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

The attendees did so in showing support for the arrival of the Pakatan Rakyat\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0leader, Anwar Ibrahim, who also showed up at the event one hour after Najib took his leave.<\/p>\n

Anwar, who is Pakatan Rakyat\u2019s choice for the prime ministerial post, was greeted with loud cheers upon his appearance at the event, with chants of \u2018reformasi\u2019 heard from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Anwar arrived at the event along his wife, PKR President Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, PAS Vice-President Mahfuz Omar and joined by DAP Parliamentary Leader, Lim Kit Siang.<\/p>\n

People used markers to amend banners in support of Anwar<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The amended banners were seen unfurled during Anwar\u2019s presence at the open house, with the supporters gleefully displaying their support for Malaysia\u2019s prime minister-to-be.<\/p>\n

Dong Zong, also known as United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia, has held the open house at its headquarters here, inviting both Najib and Anwar to join the celebrations for the Year of the Snake with the association\u2019s members and supporters.<\/p>\n

In his speech delivered in the presence of Anwar, Dong Zong\u2019s chairperson Dr Yap Sin Tian wished that \u201ceverything will change\u201d this New Year, extending his hope that \u201ceveryone can support Dong Zong so we that can achieve our objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Yap\u2019s speech, however, drew boos from likely Pakatan Rakyat supporters in the crowd, when he \u2018expressed appreciation\u2019 for Najib\u2019s earlier attendance at the open house.<\/p>\n

Dong Zong has faced remarkable odds with the ruling BN-led government especially in the recent years. Dong Zong has been persistently demanding the government\u2019s approval to build independent Chinese independent schools in Kuantan and Segamat through series of protests \u2014 held as recent as September last year outside the Parliament while it was in session, as well as on November 2012 in Petaling Jaya.<\/p>\n

In its invitation letter to Najib, Dong Zong had come up with three demands, namely: to recognize the United Exanimation Certificate (UEC), to have more Chinese independent schools created, and to have a review of the National Education Blueprint.<\/p>\n

Najib did not announce anything<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Neither Najib nor Anwar gave out any speeches during their appearances at the association\u2019s open house. Najib, whom many expected to turn up at the Dong Zhong event bearing \u2018gifts\u2019 \u2014 to announce the recognition of the UEC, at least \u2014 did not mutter a word about giving anything during his 45-minute visit.<\/p>\n

Commenting on whether Dong Zong is disappointed or otherwise with the prime minister\u2019s unabashed zero announcement, Dr Yap merely smiled and replied: \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

Najib is heralded as the first Malaysian premier to officially attend any Dong Zong event, something billed by observers and the association itself as \u2018a historic moment\u2019.<\/p>\n

Together with the machinery of his Barisan Nasional coalition, Najib has been especially eager to court the potential votes of Malaysia\u2019s ethnic Chinese, whose support for the UMNO-dominated BN has been ahead of the polls. \u2014 The Rocket<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAJANG, 17 Feb \u2013 During what could be Malaysia\u2019s most politically charged Chinese New Year festivities \u2014 observed on the verge of the country\u2019s expectedly tightest-fought general election \u2014 many surprises were in store, most strikingly for the Prime Minister Najib Razak. Having to take a walk of shame out of Penang after putting a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}