An air of festivity surrounded the official launch of the DAP’s catchy multi-language 'Ubah-Rocket style' video at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall last night.

ubah rocket style new year party 010113 06 rosmah The individual who caught the most attention was ‘Datin B’, who dressed up as Malaysia’s ‘First Lady’ aka Rosmah Mansor, the premier’s wife.

Datin B called herself ‘momma’ in a sketch depicting Rosmah’s allegedly expensive and extravagant taste in clothes and handbags, among other items. [Watch the sketch here ]

Many present took photographs with Datin B, who featured prominently in the four-minute Ubah video.

DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua, who produced the video, said the DAP got started after secretary-general Lim Guan Eng suggested last September that a video be made based on the ‘Oppa Gangnam’ style popularised by South Korean rapper Psy.

dap ubah rocket style screen capture 010113 5 “Lim asked whether I had watched the video as it was very ‘hot’. It was a month after Psy launched the video and it had registered 178 million hits ... (it) has become a worldwide phenomenon,” Pua said.

“There was difficulty in making the video as the authorities, namely the highway authorities and light rail transit (LRT) officials, stopped the shooting.”

Shooting was stopped twice along the Linkaran Trans Kota Sdn Bhd (Litrak) highway, while security personnel stopped shooting at malls in the vicinity of Jalan Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur.

“I had to ask assistant producer (Serdang MP) Teo Nie Ching to negotiate with security (personnel) to shoot the scene (in a mall), assuring them there was nothing negative,” Pua said.

ubah rocket style new year party 010113 02 In recording the ‘Datin B’ footage at a LRT station, the crew had to move between the Kelana Jaya and Damai stations because security personnel became suspicious.

“Nevertheless, we managed to finish shooting the video and produce it in the various languages,” he said in thanking the crew for their efforts.

At the launch, several bloopers were screened, including one depicting Litrak highway officials laughing in the background as a scene was being recorded.

Another showed ‘Datin B’ pretending to fall several times at a LRT station.

Campaign via social media

Pua urged DAP supporters to share the video clip with friends and colleagues as part of the party's campaign election material.

ubah rocket style new year party 010113 16 cow in condo “Please ‘like’ it on Facebook, and share in on Facebook, Youtube or Twitter to drive the message across to the people,” he added.

The video was first shown at the DAP national congress last month.

Also present at the official launch Bersih co-chairperson A Samad Said.

VIDEO l 5.29 mins