A Facebook page dedicated to recording one million opponents against the 100-storey tower project by the federal government will mark its one month anniversary tomorrow.

azlan Administrators of the page have urged supporters to gather at six locations throughout Malaysia to consume a piece of cake and ‘celebrate' the page's achievements so far.

"We celebrate because ordinary Malaysians, meaning not political or NGO leaders, for the first time have organised ourselves en masse , if this page can be considered so, to voice out on a completely unjustified and hugely unpopular project.

"This is not the first mega-project, but this is the first time a mega-project is facing organised resistance from the bottom-up. No mega-project from now on can be bulldozed against public opinion. That's why we celebrate!" wrote the anonymous administrators.

‘Eating cake not a crime'

The five locations are KLCC fountains and Stadium Merdeka at Kuala Lumpur, Speakers Square at the Penang esplanade, Coffee Bean at Wisma Merdeka, Kota Kinabalu, Secret Recipe at Lunas, Kedah and McDonalds at Kampar.

NONE Participants are expected to gather at the respective venues for about two hours to meet up with each other ‘offline' and symbolically consume self-brought cake.

In the case of Kota Kinabalu, Lunas and Kampar, participants are expected to purchase their confectionery from the respective outlets where they will gather.

The page administrators, apparently aware of the government's low tolerance for organised shows of dissent, assured would-be participants that they are not doing anything illegal.

"It isn't a crime to eat cake in public. For those of you who have any doubts, or fear police harassment don't hesitate to contact the Bar Council," wrote the administrators.

Five guidelines

The administrators also wrote five guidelines for participants to ensure that to avoid a possible brush with the authorities or agent provocateurs.

A summary of the five guidelines is as follows:

  • - No ‘ring leaders' at each gathering
  • - No banners. A4-sized placards are acceptable
  • - No shouting of slogans
  • - Bring audio and visual recording devices
  • - Post updates on the Facebook page to keep journalists in the loop

The ‘1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower ' Facebook page was established shortly after Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced plans for the Warisan Merdeka tower.

At the time of writing, the page has recorded 248,135 ‘likes' and there is an active discussion on the page on various topics related to the towers and good governance.

Opponents claim that the building was a typical example of the federal government's spendthrift ways and the RM5 billion cost would be better spent on welfare, education and improving the public transport.

The Warisan Merdeka project is slated to begin next year at a cost of RM5 billion, borne by government-owned Permodalan Nasional Bhd, the country's biggest investment fund manager.