P.140
Segamat (13th General Election on May 5, 2013)
46,262 (20,093/43.43% Malays;
21,393/46.24% Chinese; 4,641/10.03% Indians)
Vote for Change, for our children’s future
2,000 brave the rain to welcome Ambiga
in Segamat
SEGAMAT (April 29, 2013): Some 2,000
people tonight braved the rain for two hours in Batu Anam to welcome Bersih 2.0
chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan.
Some
came ready with umbrellas and others stood under the rain or sought shelter in
the corridors of a row of shop houses.
They
refused to let the rain dampen the PKR-organised ceramah and waited patiently
for the former Malaysian Bar Council president to arrive from Labis where she
also spoke at a ceramah.
Some
70% of the crowd comprised of Indians. In
March 2009, Ambiga became one of the eight recipients of the 2009 US Secretary
of State’s International Women of Courage Award.
Throughout the evening, the crowd
roared and cheered. “Ubah” (Change),
“Lawan Tetap Lawan” and “Ini kalilah” would be heard every now
and then with enthusiastic flag bearers waving and screaming intensely.
A
visibly touched Ambiga, who was “mobbed” by the crowd on her arrival, said: “I
am really very touched by your enthusiasm and spirit, standing in the rain. You
must all really be ready for change!”
The
crowd gave a rousing round of applause.
She
told the crowd that they must come out in full force to vote for a clean
government administration.
“This
is your responsibility once every five years. You must fulfill this responsibility
to yourself, your children and to the country.
“Your
vote is secret, so vote wisely with your conscience and without fear or favour.
When you go to the polls on Sunday (May 5), make sure your ballots are not
smeared by the indelible ink on your finger.
“The
Election Commission (EC) claims that the ink would dry within five seconds. We
cannot verify that and so please be careful or your stained ballots would be
wasted,” she added.
Earlier,
Johor PKR chairman Chua Jui Meng in his ceramah,
said: “Malaysians want a caring and loving government. Their only choice is
Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s three main parties – PKR, PAS and DAP.
“Unlike
the racist and corrupt Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN), an Anwar Ibrahim-led PR offers justice, peace and equality for all, including
Indians.
“BN’s 56-year rule has created
unequal distribution of wealth, resulting in poverty among Indians and other
vulnerable groups. PR will ensure fair and effective distribution of national
wealth, especially the needs of the marginalised groups.
“PR will resolve the problem of the 300,000
stateless Indians within 100 days of a PR administration, as promised by PR de
facto leader Anwar Ibrahim”
Chua ... Malaysians want a caring and loving government.
Chua said one of the promises in
PR’s manifesto is to set up a RM5 billion National Housing Board to build
150,000 decent and affordable housing for marginalised groups, especially for
displaced Indian plantation workers.
“Another significant promise is the
RM300 per pupil yearly for all schools, thereby benefiting all Tamil schools.
“We will also invest in technical
and vocational training coupled with apprenticeship programmes to provide an
alternative education and career path for school drop outs from low income
families, including Indians.
“We aim to create one million new
job opportunities for the people by gradually reducing dependence on foreign
labour,” he said, adding “this is what a real caring government is about”
“Our Buku Jingga and manifesto’s
priority and focus are on the people’s welfare, unlike the BN’s focus on
cronies. Minimum wage of RM1,100 per month backed by a RM2 billion facilitation
fund would help ease the financial burden of families,” Chua said.
He said PR would also put in place
the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) and to
eliminate deaths in police custody and custodial deaths.
Chua said various people-friendly
schemes would be launched to aid single mothers and education would be free for
all from primary to tertiary levels.
“The PTPTN would be scrapped and all
loans written off to ease the burden on graduates who are struggling to
employed or to earn a decent living to start families,” he said, adding that
the price of retail fuel would be reduced to create a domino effect to reduce
the price of goods and services.
Chua said Anwar had consistently
said that his PR government would rid of all BN’s race-based policies to
benefit all Malaysians.
Here’s
a collection of pictures for the evening which Malaysians cannot find in the
BN-controlled media: 
