After stealing the limelight when the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (11MP) was unveiled on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had a tough time selling the five-year blueprint to the people today.

In fact, hardly anybody among the 5,000-strong crowd attending a rural innovations awards ceremony in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, had even watched (over TV) Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak table the 11MP.

"Who here followed the prime minister's (11MP) speech (on Thursday) raise your hand," Muhyiddin asked the crowd.

The response was lacklustre, with hardly anybody, man or woman, raising a hand, making the deputy prime minister mutter " Aduhai !” (Oh dear!).

Muhyiddin was the centre of public attention on Thursday, after a video of him calling for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd board of directors to be sacked went viral.

This may have contributed to the lame response to his speech today, during which Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, had to urge the crowd to clap several times.

"RM260 billion was allocated for national development, the biggest amount in the history of Malaysia Plans," Muhyiddin said.

"Kalau tak tepuk pun tak apa (It's all right if you don't clap)," he added when there was no response, promoting a half-hearted applause from the audience.

'Don't listen to the opposition'

Even talking about increasing the income of the bottom 40 percent of the population from an average of RM2,500 a month to RM5,000 failed to rouse the crowd.

This is not the first time Muhyiddin has had to ask the crowd to clap for him.

Last month, Muhyiddin had to ask a crowd of teachers to clap at least four times , during a speech at the Penang UiTM campus last month.

Undeterred by the unresponsive crowd, Muhyiddin continued singing praises of the 11MP and even took a jab at the opposition.

"It is important for us to understand the 11MP... its benefits include better income and more comfortable lives, which is why we want the people to stick with the government.

“Don't listen to the opposition, it is a waste of time. (Follow) the white book (11MP), not the Buku Jingga (Orange Book)," he said, referring to the opposition manifesto for the 2013 general election.

The crowd finally woke up and became lively after Muhyiddin's speech, when the award winners for the Anugerah Ilham Desa (Rural Ideas Awards) were announced.

More than RM100,000 in cash prizes were awarded to five winners, with the grand prize of RM50,000 going to the developer of a multipurpose tractor.