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Gathering of strange, and estranged bedfellows
Published:  Jan 22, 2016 8:18 PM
Updated: Jan 23, 2016 5:26 AM

Tomorrow afternoon, the nation's capital is slated to witness, if the organisers' prediction come true, a sea of people coming together for a common cause.

Ironically, the gathering would consist of those, who under different circumstances, would feel that the sky is not large enough to accommodate all of them and their differences.

But the opposition towards the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) would bring together strange and even estranged bedfellows, but not necessarily close enough to rub shoulders.

For example, Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali previously announced he would steer clear of DAP members.

"They will be on their own and we will be on our own, it's a huge field anyway. So DAP can sit on one end and I will sit at another end," he had said.

Apart from Perkasa, the secular DAP's former comrade-turned-nemesis PAS has vowed to paint the town with a hue of Islamic green for the protest.

And then there are the socialists in the form of Parti Sosialis Malaysia, who have decided to don black for the event.

The latest adversary of PAS, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), which is a splinter of the Islamic party formed after the collapse of Pakatan Rakyat, would also be making its presence felt.

Amanah now together with DAP and PKR are members of the new opposition coalition re-branded as Pakatan Harapan.

Adding a tinge of yellow to the rally would be Bersih, which has organised several mammoth rallies in the past.

The electoral watchdog's previous campaign last August spawned an hitherto unseen shade in Kuala Lumpur, with thousands clad in red marching through the streets a month later to uphold Malay pride.

This was after detractors denounced the Bersih rally for being predominantly Chinese and over photographs that depicted protesters stomping on the images of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

However, no rally would be complete without the colour blue, so expect a massive deployment of police personnel as well tomorrow.

The rally aims to stop Malaysia from inking the TPPA, which is expected to be voted on in Parliament at the end of this month.

The TPPA is a multinational free trade agreement in which the US is the main proponent.

Apart from Malaysia, other countries involved in its secretive negotiations include Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Mexico, and Canada, among others.

Critics fear that the TPPA would wipe out local businesses, as well as threaten Malaysia's sovereignty due to a clause allowing foreign corporations to sue the government for actions that result in loss of profits.

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