People think that these “pro-najib protesters” might have been TRICKED into attending? (UPDATED!)

[Update: 26 January 2022]

Just a few days after pictures of the protesters at a ‘pro-najib’ rally went viral on Twitter, we’ve finally got some answers on what the actual story behind the event is. This came after an NGO from Taman Sri Muda came out to respond to the allegations about the flood victims being tricked into attending the event. Here’s what they said…

The flood-victims went there to submit a memorandum, not to protest.

Alright, so remember that picture of the notice that was supposedly given out to the flood-victims in Sri Muda? Apparently, the notice was put out by the ‘Persatuan Penjaja dan Peniaga Kecil Taman Sri Muda Seksyen 25’, who were the original organizers of the event, as an invitation for the flood-victims to submit a memorandum (only!) to Najib as a way to demand for more flood-aid. So, where does the protest come in?

Well, as it seems they wanted to submit the memorandum through ‘Persatuan Sahabat Ulul Amri’ (PSUAM), who were also using the same venue. However, things went off-course when some of the flood-victims were being handed the printed signs, which then led to the pictures that we saw on social media. But according to the original organizers, this was done without their knowing as they were not made aware of the affiliation.

Persatuan Sahabat Ulul Amri (PSUAM) also confirmed that the flood-victims from Sri Muda were really just there to submit the memorandum, and stated that they did not promise to give out any flood-aid. They also mentioned that out of the 4,000 people present at the event, only 10% of them were from the Sri-Muda group. But if that were really the case, then why were some of the flood-victims being given the signs to hold??

[End of update] Wanna know the original story? Check out the rest of the article for context!

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In recent news, Najib’s corruption-trial is finally starting after more than 3 years of delays. And though there might be some who are in support of it, there are still quite a number of people who stand behind our ex-PM. Case-in-point, there was a rally that was hosted 2 days ago at PWTC, where protesters had called for the release of Najib and the arrest of Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who is the ex-governor of Bank Negara Malaysia that’s currently being investigated by the MACC for her links to the 1MDB funds.

But what caught the eye of Malaysian netizens on Twitter weren’t the well-printed and laminated signboards, but the people who were present at the event. Some netizens pointed out that some of the “protesters” looked confused about what they were doing at the event, and questioned if they even knew what was going on. This then led to allegations that…

These “protesters” might have been homeless people and flood-victims who were lured into attending.

Smol disclaimer: As of now, there has not been any solid confirmation that these attendees were indeed deceived into attending the protest gathering. So, until there’s any actual statement being released, all of this is based off of pure speculation, okei?  

Alright, alright, alright. We know that it seems like way too big of a claim to go unbacked, but apparently there’s also been some evidence on why this accusation might not be as untrue as it seems. For example, one Twitter account belonging to a Soup Kitchen in KL happened to recognize some of the people who attended the gathering:

Bila zoom gambar, ramai usual suspects kami. Patut lah harini makanan tak habis. Entah apa dorang ni diperdayakan untuk hadir https://t.co/gerYEXiNWS

— 🏴 Makanan & Vaksin Hak Untuk Semua! 🏴 (@DapurJalanan) January 23, 2022

And that’s not all. Another Twitter user (who wished to not be named) came across a picture of a notice that was posted in one of the WhatsApp chat groups that they were in. The notice seemed to be meant for the flood-victims in Sri Muda, calling upon them to attend an event in PWTC on the 23rd of January; the same event as the gathering to call for Najib’s release and Zeti’s arrest.

Also written in the notice, it seems like the original purpose of the event was to submit a memorandum to Najib and the President of UMNO as a result of the flood. Unfortunately, CILISOS was not invited to the gathering, so we can neither confirm nor deny whether the written purpose of this event matched-up to the actual day’s events. 

The same user also posted up this video that was supposedly taken at the gathering, where a bunch of people are seen to be seated at tables, while shouts of “Tangkap Zeti!” can be heard in the background. We’ll add it in here, for you guys to check out yourselves:

But while all this might be speculation for now, here’s why it might not be such a crazy idea…

The organization that hosted the rally has done something similar in the past.

Honestly? This isn’t exactly the first time such wild accusations have been made. In the past, we’ve seen both sides of the political spectrum pointing fingers at each other to claim that each party had paid for their support rallies. And sometimes, these claims can be true.

In this case, however, the rally was hosted by Persatuan Sahabat Ulul Amri (PSUAM), who has made appeals for Najib’s release and even tried to get the Agong to grant Najib a royal pardon. But then again, it’s likely that this gathering by the PSUAM might have been done without Najib’s knowing, as Najib had even rejected their past offers of pardon and didn’t even show up for the event itself.

But until someone comes out and agrees to go on the record about whether these people were indeed protesting out of their own free will or against it, we won’t know for sure whether any of this is true. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye out for more news regarding this incident and update the article accordingly.