Puad: Stain on PAS' image if 'Turun' turnout less than 500k

With the opposition’s “Turun Anwar” rally slated for tomorrow, an Umno leader said that a turnout of anything less than 500,000 would affect PAS’ credibility.

“PAS is very anxious now, not because Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will resign or otherwise.

“They are nervous about whether they could achieve the 500,000-turnout target. Ninety percent of the attendance would depend on PAS members.

“And that’s why they are focused on the numbers. Anything less would affect their pride,” Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi said on Facebook today.

On July 22, PAS MP Shahidan Kassim described the gathering as a “mother of all rallies”, predicting a turnout of between 300,000 and 500,000.

The Arau lawmaker said this despite the police only estimating a turnout between 10,000 and 15,000.

“We know that on July 26, there will be a movement or rally taking place, and many Malaysians are expected to attend with an estimated turnout of over 300,000 to 500,000 people,” Shahidan told reporters in Parliament.

Hamzah expects 1m

Upping the ante, Bersatu deputy president Hamzah Zainudin claimed that the rally could attract up to a million participants.

On that note, Puad said that the opposition’s rally tomorrow would only become successful if Umno participated in it.

Citing an example, he pointed to the joint rally held by PAS and Umno in 2018, which effectively forced the then-Pakatan Harapan government to backtrack on its decision to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd).

“And that’s why Anwar is not worried.

“In fact, Anwar himself organised a rally against Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1998, but the latter did not resign.

“BN even won two-thirds majority in the 1999 and 2004 general elections,” the Johor state assembly speaker added.

For the anti-Icerd rally in 2018, the police estimated a turnout of 55,000. However, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said about 500,000 people showed up.

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