YOURSAY | ‘If you spill sugar, ants will gather, if you throw stale bread, rats will come.’

Umno's show of numbers beats Bersih 5, Act 355 rally, but...

Clever Voter: Umno, being the wealthiest political party, can afford to celebrate all year round. But we know the numbers may not be easily translated into votes.

Given the electoral system designed in favour of the establishment, Umno and its allies will not lose sleep. But the BN coalition has a credibility problem.

The public are expected to be swarmed with propaganda, and expect attacks against the opposition to be more intense and personal. Also expect handouts to be increased no matter how much they cost.

All these, to divert attention from problems of public indebtedness, corruption addiction and to the community, increased cost of living and youth unemployment.

Vijay47: Emboldened by the number of persons who attended this party of the year? PM Najib Abdul Razak, if you are trying to seek assurance and consolation from this dubious fact, perhaps it is time you really wake up.

Try holding an event without bribes and gifts, try doing a Bersih. If you spill sugar, ants will gather, if you throw stale bread, rats will come.

Chefoo: We can't compare the gatherings of Bersih with this. Yes, both are gatherings, but it's like comparing an apple and an orange. Both are fruits but are different.

Umno’s gathering is a paid event and people are allegedly tricked to attend to boost its gathering. No one paid for the Bersih gathering. It was from our hearts.

Headhunter: With all the cash and freebies thrown in, how can it be compared with Bersih where threats of violence and arrest were the order of the day?

Even then, the stadium is only two-thirds filled. It's just another Umno circus as far as Malaysians are concerned.

While you are at it, why not enter it into another one of those pathetic Malaysian records as the biggest rent-a-crowd event? That would be the icing on the cake, wouldn't it?

Malaysia4All: If one busses in the crowd and pays them for coming, depending on how much you pay them, one can get millions in, so that's no reflection of one's popularity. Cash is, indeed, king.

Phanga 1742: Learn from Umno-BN. At supposedly RM100 per person = RM8 million. Plus transport fares for 3,000 buses and food, prizes.

Total ‘donation’ is RM15 million, tops. This amount is ‘sap sap sui’ (no sweat) for them.

Warrant Addict: History 101. Usually people tend to claim to be younger than their actual age. But not the people in Umno (Baru). No, not individually but as a group.

This year, they are saying their party is 71 years old. Going by history Umno was formed on May 11, 1946 by Onn Jaafar. The Umno folks are right.

But wait, wasn't that Umno of 1946 ‘dead and buried’ back in 1988? So by the High Court decision, Umno the party ‘died’ on Feb 4, 1988. And it was not revived. Never resurrected.

Instead, Dr Mahathir Mohamad put into motion the machinery to form a new party, and registered it formally as Umno (Baru) on Feb 13, 1988, meaning the new Umno registered by Dr M back then, which is the current Umno led by Najib, was born in 1988.

Which makes the party a youngish 29 years old instead of the 71 years presently trumpeted all over the country.

Goldee: Indeed, Umno Baru is only 29 years old. The old Umno formed during Onn's time has been dead and gone.

About 80,000 supporters attended the rally when they have three million members. If not for the free food and free ride plus the carrot dangling in front of them (lucky draws), probably it would be lower than 10,000.

Bersih rallies often exceeded 100,000 and they were made up of supporters from 1Malaysians. They came on their own accord, paying their own fares, without freebies.

They came with one common goal, to fight against corruption and injustices, equality, clean and fair election. The Umno Baru 29th anniversary rally is no comparison to Bersih.

Flyingeagle: It will be interesting to know how the three million members in Umno Baru were registered after the deregistration of the old Umno? Was a new exercise to register new members done?

Apa Ini?: Yes, what would the number be if you withheld the free bus rides, the RM100 or more ringgit to each attendee plus free meals?

Bersih's crowd came from all sorts of backgrounds and neither I nor any of my friends who went (mostly by public transport and/or on foot) got one sen. Indeed, many of us paid RM20 each for our T-shirts.

And we had to face many aggressive red shirts. For each Bersih supporter there I knew, at least another two who could not go for fear of their employers. Numbers are deceiving, Najib.

6th Generation Immigrant: Say and do whatever anyone likes, but the final count shall be the results on the night of GE14.

All forms of posturing are exactly what they are - mere posturing - but only votes count.

Ravinder: "If Parliament is dissolved tomorrow, are we ready (for elections)?" Najib asked, and was met with a resounding "Yes" from the enthusiastic Umno crowd.

Before the last election, in Penang - “If Najib had heard the crowd at the back of the Han Chiang College field, he would have been rather disappointed.

“In the midst of his speech at the Penang state BN Chinese New Year (CNY) open house … he said he did not want the day to be serious as everyone was expecting a great show by top Korean pop star Psy.

“‘Are you ready for Psy?’ Najib asked about four times and the crowd responded loudly ‘Yes!’. He then asked ‘Are you ready for BN?’ but the crowd at the back shouted ‘No’ and laughed.”

Jaycee: For the Malays, supporting this man means you are giving him the green light to allegedly continue stealing. Voting for this man means you are condoning corruption.

Continue to vote for him, the country could become the next Venezuela.

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