The rally that wasn’t

Yesterday, during lunch in PJ, I was alerted to a massive rally that was to take place today at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng in KL.

Seems it was being organised by UMNO youth to get Malays to come out and loudly condemn Anwar’s recent public statements on the issue of whether Chin Peng should be permitted to return home.

At least, so the story went, that was the rationale that was being delivered to the ground in an effort to get a decent crowd attendance.

And if that rationale did not get the throngs in, I was told, then a promise of RM100 and food for each attendee was expected to do the trick.

Called some contacts in UMNO to check on this. Most said they had not heard of such a planned rally and did not think KJ would want to involve the youth wing in something like this, given the current public sentiment.

They felt certain that even if such a rally was being planned by the youth wing, they would try to orchestrate it to appear as if it were a spontaneous outpouring of anger by Malays generally, rather than an UMNO Youth organised rally.

By late last night, I had received confirmation from another source that such a rally was being planned.

Then I caught RPK’s ‘Calling all Malay youth and Mat Rempit’ post late last night.

Late, this morning, Nanda headed out to Jalan Yap Kwan Seng.

He alerted me to having sighted a TV3 heli passing over the road on a number of occasions.

I joined Nanda around lunch time.

We were there until about 4pm.

Nothing happened.

Wonder if this was a case of some sinister rumour-mongering akin to that which made its rounds post the Hindraf rally in November, 2007, or one of RPK’s posting throwing a spanner in the works of a devious and devillish UMNO Youth hate programme, which then had to be aborted?

Or could it be that even the Mat Rempit have completely gone off UMNO?