My First Ceramah

Even though I am not able to cast my vote this year, I attended a political ceramah* anyway. It's my very first time and I wanted to see and experience what it's all about. I wanted to hear what the politicians have to say and how they rah-rah* the rakyat*.

DAP organized one in SS2 and I got to know about it through Tony Pua's blog. It was really close to my office so I decided to drop by. I also wanted to catch a glimpse of the famous Uncle Kit and see him in action. Unfortunately, at 8pm when the speeches were supposed to start, they announced that Lim Kit Siang will be the last speaker because he had two other ceramahs to attend to. I decided to stay for a while longer. I was curious at what normally goes on in such events and wanted to find out for myself, Uncle Kit or no Uncle Kit.

By the time it was 8-ish, there were quite a number of people gathering around the makeshift stage, about 200 folks or so. The weather was balmy and humid and a few people were fanning themselves. But everyone bore it with nary a complaint. They seemed prepared to stand on their feet all night long. The eagerness and anticipation of the talks ahead were clearly etched on their faces. We were not disappointed. The speakers that night were eloquent, dynamic and multilingual. They passionately spoke about things that you don't get to see in the mainstream media. This was their night, their chance to have their say out loud in public. To share their side of the story.

Amongst the speakers, I was especially impressed with Haris Ibrahim. This renowned human rights lawyer wants to see a true Bangsa Malaysia and this he conveyed with utmost gusto and finese. Everyone clapped and cheered him on after almost every sentence uttered. Everyone was in a cheerful and festive mood. By then the crowd had more than doubled.

The other DAP candidates who were new faces took time to introduce themselves and mingle with the crowd. After Dr. Cheah gave an informed and intense speech, I heard an uncle behind me commenting, "Hmmm, not bad lar this fella." I suppose it was a mixed crowd. Some wanted to support the party even though they are not PJ area voters. Some PJ voters were curious as to what the local DAP candidate would do for them and wonder how well their causes will be defended. And some others turned up because they were errr... just curious as cats.

I had to leave half-way through the event because of work the next day - didn't manage to hear Tony Pua nor Uncle Kit speak. I left rather reluctantly, and couldn't help noting of how different it was during school days when I dragged my feet to attend one boring ceramah after another. Who would have thought that ceramahs can actually be so... fun and exciting! Better go while you can - the next round of ceramahs will come around again only after 4 years or so.

Here are some pics taken with my camera phone:




Translation:

Ceramah - Talk
Rah-rah - Motivate
Rakyat - People