AS the general election draws to a close, what is obvious during the two weeks of campaigning is that voters are willing to rough it out in rainy weather to listen to top party leaders.  

The last-minute ceramah (public speech) by top leaders on Friday night once again attracted a huge crowd— whether it be Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim’s several-night events in Tambun, or Rafizi Ramli’s Ayuh Malaysia mega speech in Pandan, or Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin’s final event in Pagoh.  

A strong turnout was also seen at the ceramahs for many PH candidates in their respective constituencies, including Segambut contestant Hannah Yeoh’s in Taman Rimba Kiara. 

In Langkawi, Gerakan Tanah Air chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad attracted a small crowd in Dataran Kuah where he delivered his last message to voters. 

There were no Barisan Nasional mega ceramahs with its top leaders to end the campaigning period on Friday night. 

During the campaign period, the crowds at the ceramahs were obviously attracted to household and popular leaders only.  

The new candidates and less popular incumbents could not bring in large numbers and could only get under the spotlight if they were fortunate to have their party bosses stump in their constituency. 

But still, they were seen meeting as many voters as possible on a daily basis.  

The rain did prove to be a dampener though and the flash floods in many parts of the country disrupted the campaigning.  

Without a doubt, the top draws in this campaign were Anwar, Muhyiddin, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Barisan Nasional) and Ismail Sabri Yaakob, by virtue of being the poster boy for BN. 

Some ceramahs drew crowds of up to 5,000 and some as low as 100 participants. But party leaders said many people followed the campaigns online. 

By contrast, the previous general election campaign runs saw crowds of 10,000 upwards—and in some cases even 20,000—to see Dr Mahathir and other PH leaders on stage nationwide. 

This time around, Anwar’s ceramahs—be it in Tambun, Perak, or Gombak, Selangor, or Batu in Kuala Lumpur—played out to full houses, but with not as many people.

The opposition leader, much to the delight of the crowd, even got them to join him in singing along to the party election song ‘Aduh Malaysia’ by rapper Altimet. 

During his ceramah, Anwar mainly touched on BN, former PKR comrade Mohamad Azmin Ali (who was labelled a traitor after the Sheraton move), the plight of the people, and the economy. 

Muhyiddin playing religious card 

At the BN front, the one candidate who had the media spotlight in his campaign rounds was caretaker health minister Khairy Jamaluddin, contesting in Sungai Buloh.  

During one of his ceramahs, he declared himself ready to be the new Umno leader and prime ministerial candidate in the next five to 10 years. 

BN’s poster boy Ismail Sabri did not venture much out of his Bera constituency but whenever he went to pitch for his cabinet colleagues—like Khairy, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, or Wee Ka Siong, he promised to return them to cabinet if they and BN won the election. 

At the same time, he also pledged to have a much smaller cabinet. 

Zahid, meanwhile, was hardly seen attending ceramahs, preferring small get-togethers with the voters in Bagan Datuk and elsewhere. 

In his last campaign event, which took place on Thursday night, he held a prayer session with the famous preacher Ebit Lew. 

In Muhyiddin’s series of tours, while in Perlis, three main tents were set up in front of the Bersatu Kangar headquarters.  

About 1,000 seats were all occupied, plus there were people outside the main tents who wanted to hear the Bersatu president’s speech. 

His speech usually attacked PH, especially DAP, in front of a Malay-majority crowd. 

“Don’t support PH. I have been in the government for many decades…but when I sat in the Cabinet with PH, it was a torturous 22 months. 

“I shook my head at the actions that were done by my friends back then from PKR and DAP.” 

 At another event, Muhyiddin chided Anwar, who is contesting in Tambun.  

“How long has he (Anwar) been out of the government administration; it’s been more than 20 years. 

“So, it will be difficult (for Anwar) to understand the country’s policy… while we are facing a big risk, so the people’s main problems cannot be solved as quickly as they want. People can’t wait now,” he said. 

In the final days of campaigning, Muhyiddin resorted to provoking racial and religious sentiments, accusing PH of supporting a Jewish or Christian agenda. 

Live on social media 

Meanwhile in Pantai Merdeka, Langkawi, Kedah, former prime minister Dr Mahathir saw about 100 people attending his ceramah. 

He also spoke about the Malay agenda, and the need to eradicate Umno and corruption. 

Earlier this week, Dr Mahathir campaigned for his party candidate, 33-year-old Dr Nurul Ashikin Mabahwi who is battling four other women in a nine-cornered battle for Ampang. 

The crowd size at this event was about 200. 

Although a small party, Pejuang will be contesting 160 seats through their unregistered coalition of parties.  

One final thing to note about ceramahs in this general election: While the crowd was nowhere near the numbers achieved in the last general election, almost all events this time round were shown live on social media, allowing people everywhere access to the events. – November 19, 2022.