Ipoh Timur incumbent Lim Kit Siang made some 2,000 Ipoh voters go through an impromptu 'referendum' during a ceramah last night.

The purpose: To decide whether the voters would allow him to campaign for a few days outside the Kinta Valley constituency.

kinta dap halfway ceramah 010308 kit nga wong "Do you want me to stay here or spread DAP's message nationwide?" asked Lim, 67, who was speaking at his third ceramah for the night despite suffering from a mild fever.

Thousands of hands were immediately raised in favour of Lim, who is DAP advisor, embarking on a nationwide tour which includes Sabah, Johor and Malacca.

About a dozen others dissented and were promptly booed by the crowd.

"I want to thank the people of Ipoh for allowing me to go all over the country, but, I urge you all, to join me by calling your relatives all over the country and tell them to vote for the opposition on polling day," said Lim.

kinta dap halfway ceramah 010308 umbrella Lim was among several DAP top brass who had attended the ceramah, which was the party's best attended event since the start of campaigning on Sunday.

Undeterred by rain

Organisers for the event were unprepared for the large crowd and were forced to set up additional chairs. Halfway through the ceramah, standing room was nearly fully taken up.

Outside the hall, about 500 more gathered outside on the road armed with umbrellas to shield themselves from a drizzle. Majority of the crowd stayed on for four hours until midnight.

The crowd also gave a thunderous ovation to Lim and Pantai Remis state seat incumbent Nga Kor Ming during their arrival at the ceramah.

kinta dap halfway ceramah 010308 nga kor ming In Nga's fiery speech, he stressed on DAP's campaign to deny the Barisan Nasional a two-third majority in Parliament which was to incapacitate Umno which he described as a "monster".

"To kill the monster, we must first chop of their hands and feet. Their hands and feet are none other than MCA and Umno," roared Nga, 35, who is contesting the Taiping parliamentary seat and the Pantai Remis seat.

Near the end of the event, the emcee announced that RM22,252.41 in donation were collected during the ceramah prompting another round of ovation by the crowd.