BY RAHMAH GHAZALI
The group at Dataran Merdeka on Sunday night.
The group at Dataran Merdeka on Sunday night.
PETALING JAYA: Claiming that Bersih 4 protesters had hijacked the National Day eve celebrations at Dataran Merdeka, a group of Umno Youth members attempted to hold an event of their own.
Federal Territories Umno Youth chief Razlan Rafii told The Star Online that this year marked the first time that no celebrations or singing of the national anthem were held at the historic venue on Aug 30.
“Not once have we skipped the celebrations at Dataran Merdeka since we achieved independence 58 years ago. We were not letting that happen,” he said.
The group had tried to bypass the barricades at Dataran Merdeka at close to midnight on Sunday, but were denied entry by the police.
Clad in red t-shirts, the participants were mistaken for members of the group led by Sg Besar Umno division chief Datuk Jamal Yunos, which had planned to gather 30,000 people to counter the Bersih 4 rally.
Jamal had, however, called off the gathering on the advice of police.
The group had tried to bypass the barricades at Dataran Merdeka at close to midnight on Sunday, but were denied entry by the police.
“No, we have nothing to do with Jamal. In fact, the red t-shirts we wore that night read ‘Sehati Sejiwa’ (the official National Day theme),” said Razlan, adding that many people were disappointed on Sunday night when they found out that the eve celebrations were to be held at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil instead.
“There were families and children who had looked forward to going to Dataran, but this was marred by Bersih,” he said.
He said the “Negaraku” sung by Bersih 4 rally-goers to usher in the National Day was not the same.
“They didn’t sing it at Dataran Merdeka, they sang it in the vicinity. It’s different. Besides, these are the people who never came to Dataran for National Day celebrations,” he said.
Razlan said he ended up singing “Negaraku” alone, as the police had allowed only one person enter Dataran Merdeka.
