It said the PH component parties did not have any leader who could attract the masses like PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had done at the party’s event at Pantai Tok Jembal in the costal district of Kuala Nerus on Sept 30.
PAS Ulama Council President Mahfodz Mohamad said it was evident that the number of people who showed up at the “Love Malaysia, End Kleptocracy” rally at Padang Timur in Petaling Jaya was far lower than what was seen at Fastaqim 2.0.
“I expected this because they (PH) were already feeling down earlier (on the attendance). They had said they did not want to compete with Fastaqim,” he said, claiming that more than 250,000 people had attended the rally in Kuala Nerus.
Organisers of the event last night had announced that 25,000 people had attended. They had originally announced last month that 100,000 people were expected to attend.
However, Selangor police chief Mazlan Mansor had said the number was only 4,000.
Mahfodz said PAS did not need the leaders from PH like former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is PPBM and PH chairman, to attract large crowds.
In fact, the party did not even need PKR and PH president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng as the presence of Hadi was enough to draw interest, he told reporters at the Kolej Universiti Islam Zulkifli Mohammad (KUIZM) here today.
“The high participation for the lecture today is proof enough that Hadi commands such support despite being hit with aspersions and so on,” he said, referring to Hadi’s talk to some 1,000 participants at the event.
The Fastaqim 2.0 was held at a remote area without any public transportation access in Umno-governed Terengganu.
On the other hand, the venue of the PH rally was close to the Federal Highway and an LRT station in Selangor which is ruled by the federal opposition parties led by PKR, a component of PH.