Ahmad Fadli KC Malaysiakini May 28, 2014
TELUK INTAN With the clock ticking down for polling day on Saturday, it was supposed to be a feather in BN’s cap: scores of DAP members would cross over to the ruling coalition.
Or so the media was told.
But what transpired in Teluk Intan late last night was something different from the script.
And some DAP members were bewildered when they found out the real reason behind the event.
One such person was 46-year-old taxi driver S Shantini.
Not being informed about the purpose of the event, Shantini was shocked when it was announced that she was one of 150 former DAP members who now support BN.
“I do not support BN. I have supported DAP since I was 21.
“I am a taxi driver and I came here to have my picture taken. I am still a (DAP) member. I was asked to come, so I came,” she told reporters.
Shantini was then asked to leave by the organiser, known as “ayahanda” Arjami Ali from Malay non-governmental organisation Pewaris Malaysia.
MIC leader blames language barrier
MIC Wanita chief Mohana Muniandy, who was also present, blamed the confusion on language barrier.
“In what language did you ask her? Sometimes language is a barrier,” Mohana (right) told the journalists, who then informed the politician that the question was framed in Bahasa Malaysia.
Asked why Shantini was told to leave the event early, Mohana said the taxi driver was asked to retrieve her DAP membership card.
There were some 100 people like Shantini in attendance but they could not be interviewed. Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan was also there and even presented BN T-shirts.
The media, who were earlier told that the “former” DAP members wanted to join BN, were later informed that there would be no switching of camps.
On the contrary, these individuals would be considered “BN friendly”.
At a press conference later, Changkat Jong assemblyperson Mohd Azhar Jamaluddin said the event was to welcome their support for BN.
Not BN culture to cut cards
When photographers asked the so-called DAP members to cut their membership cards as a symbolic gesture of leaving the party, Umno’s Ahmad intervened.
Ahmad said it was not BN’s culture to do such things.
Some of the participants, sporting BN T-shirts and caps, had to wait for two hours in the dark, due to the lack of proper lighting, in order to receive a 1Malaysia box each after the event.
Journalists who tried to interview the participants as to the contents in the box, were prevented from doing so by Arjami who described the journalists as “busybodies”.
Before leaving, members of the media asked the organisers to bring one more participant to be interviewed and they brought in a 60-year-old woman.
However, Arjami again stepped in to prevent the interview from taking place.