By YEAP YIN LUN

KAMPAR – The opposition party, Democratic Action Party (DAP) held a talk in old town on the 3rd of June, revealing issues covered by the mainstream media to create awareness among citizens.

These talks held by the opposition party have been on the road all over Malaysia and this time they were in Kampar.

There were 4 speakers that night to discuss issues that were not revealed by the mainstream media. The first speaker was Chen Fook Chye, followed by Leong Cheok Keng, Hew Kuan Yau, Koon Yew Yin and lastly YB Nga Kor Ming.

Chen, the state legislator of Keranji, started the talk by questioning the government’s decision to ban the colour yellow. According to him, yellow represented Bersih which urged for clean elections and it was also the colour of the Malaysian Royal Family.

He could not comprehend why the government wanted to forbid the sporting of the colour yellow. Moreover, it would be a shame for the government to forbid a colour with no reason.

The speech that followed was by Leong, a lawyer. He raised the issue of Kuantan not having an independent school. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin once said that Kuantan could not have an independent school since it was the law.

Leong challenged his statement by promising the audience that the law could be changed if the party won the General Election 13 and became the central government.

The next speaker was Hew. He related the Bersih rally held on the 28th of April 2012 in Kuala Lumpur to the audience. He said that although the government tried to cover up the news and give false information to Malaysians, they were there to share the primary sources of the rally via the use of the internet.

He said the advancement of technology has kept people aware of the importance of differentiating between what is real and what is not.

Koon, an 80-year-old known for his philanthropy took to the stage to reveal the reason behind UTAR’s rejection of his RM30 million donation. The donation to UTAR was for the purpose of building hostels as the university students were facing high costs of living.

He said it was rejected because the current hostels provided were all owned by members of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and they did not want to jeopardize their profits.

“Remember who is sucking your blood. When it comes to votes, you know who to vote for.” said Koon. Before he ended his speech, he donated a sum of RM100, 000 to DAP on the spot.

Last but not least, YB Nga, Secretray of DAP Perak took the floor for the night. He promised the audience that once Pakatan Rakyat had control over the central government, the first thing they were going to do was to recognize the certification of independent schools.

Many independent school students, failing to get into local institutes, have left the country for higher education since their certificates were not recognized in Malaysia.

Another thing that they promised to do was to abolish the toll on the highways which discouraged people from travelling long distance.

Since costs of living have been spiralling upwards, he promised that when PKR had the chance to be the central government, they will provide permanent leases for “Kampung Tersusun” houses for 999 years!

An estimated 500 individuals were present for the talk being the first of its kind in Kampar.

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