Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) chairperson Mohamad Sabu’s photo with a young Chinese woman leaning her head close to him at the Bersih 4 rally may be the talk of the town, but the seasoned politician is unperturbed

The image, taken more than two weeks ago at the mammoth rally, went viral and with it came the brickbats aimed squarely at the former PAS deputy president.

However, Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, shrugged it off as a bolt from the blue.

“It was not planned and it is not a normal practice. There were hundreds of thousands of people at Bersih 4.

“It is not as if we are in a park or on a beach. Such incidents (at such a gathering) are normal. I think of the girl as like my granddaughter,” he said, laughing it off.

He said the girl's father was beside her even as the girl was leaning against him.

The skilled orator added there were many people around and he was surrounded by friends when it happened.

Mohamad said throughout the rally, even a 100-metre walk could take an hour as there were many who wanted to take pictures with him.

Amanah lacks PAS’ mechanisms

The viral photograph may be something he has to contend with but the low turnout of Malays at the rally is a more serious issue for him as the pro-tem chairperson of a party carved out of PAS.

Though some have blamed Amanah for the poor Malay numbers, Mohamad said it was unfair to rest the heavy burden on a new party’s shoulder.

Amanah, he argued, has not had time to set up the mechanisms required to bring out the grassroots for the 34-hour rally.

“When I was with PAS, as deputy president, I was the chairperson for mobilisation.

“There is a certain mechanism to bring out the members and as PAS had boycotted, Amanah does not have the mechanism as the party was only formed on Aug 31.

“Hence, we made the call through regular means - through our ceramah,” he said.

Mohamad was upbeat for future Bersih rallies, after Amanah has set up its mechanisms, there would be droves of party members attending such gatherings.

‘Chinese Bersih’ untrue

Amanah has been reported as targeting 100,000 members by year-end, with the largest proportion being from Kelantan, also PAS’ stronghold.

“Now that it (Amanah) is setting up division and state headquarters, there will be a better mechanism to mobilise members,” he said.

He added it was unfair to blame the lower Malay turnout at Bersih 4 on Malays.

Furthermore, he said there may not be many Malays on the first day of the Bersih 4 rally as they were thinking of where to sleep, or some other related reasons.

“However, on the second day, there were many Malays who turned up so it cannot be called a Chinese rally.

“If there is a better mechanism (to bring out the grassroots), I am certain the turnout of the Malays would be bigger,” he said.