Guan Eng charms Kuching in final hours of campaign
By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider
“My friends, this is a very crucial election because if we can show that we dare to oppose the Barisan Nasional, we can bring about change not only in Sarawak but also in Malaysia.
KUCHING, April 14 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng swept Kuching off her feet last night in his final swing at the capital city before Saturday’s election, entertaining thousands with jokes, songs and more anti-Pek Moh tales.
The Penang chief minister, standing on a makeshift podium outside the CH101 coffeeshop at the MJC New Township in Batu Kawah, was in his element as he delivered his speech to a crowd that numbered to at least 6,000 people.
Families, couples and individuals, some hugging the colourful plush “Ubah” toy in their arms, clambered to the venue and stood shoulder to shoulder for hours to listen to Lim and other Pakatan Rakyat leaders (PR) speak.
They clogged the street in front of the coffeeshop that stretched out for over 200 metres, gathering around Lim and four projector screens that were set up outside the five-foot way in front of the shoplots.
When there was no longer any standing room on the road, the crowd was forced to watch the leaders from the large park facing the shophouse, some standing on chairs to get a better view.
Deftly switching from Bahasa Malaysia to English and then to Hokkien, Mandarin and come Cantonese, Lim urged constituents to “ubah” (change) their present leadership and opt for PR.
The leader thundered the “Ngap sayop” battle cry numerous times to further stir the high-spirited crowd, using the infamous phrase in Sarawak football that means “easy to beat”.
“My friends, this is a very crucial election because if we can show that we dare to oppose the Barisan Nasional, we can bring about change not only in Sarawak but also in Malaysia.
“On April 16, if we can vote for the rocket (DAP) and PR, against the BN, this will be the end of the corruption practised by (Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul) Taib Mahmud for 30 years,” he said.
Taib, he said, was “growing desperate” in his struggle to retain power in Sarawak and had employed underhanded tactics to boost his campaign.
“Many online sites cannot be accessed. He is doing what Hosni Mubarak and Ben Ali did. He is closing free online websites so that people will not know what is going on,” he said.
