I went down to Dataran Merdeka on the 27th of May 2012 to see our beloved Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, or affectionately known as Ah Jib Kor!

It was the Majlis Ramah Mesra Warga Penjaja & Peniaga Kecil 1Malaysia. In other words, a friendly ceremony of hawkers and small business owners.

This was near the fountain. Small crowd.

Then I headed on the grass and towards the light, where our PM was giving a speech!

What a crowd!

Another view.

And then I got to the front with my Sony 135mm F2.8/T4.5 Smooth Transition Focus on the A900. Not the most pixel-dense sensor these days! (That would be the A77, but I didn’t bring that…)

I have to say that Ah Jib Kor, with his cap to the side, has that hipster vibe going on. He’s so cool he doesn’t button his buttons up!

Najib cut the yearly fees of registering and maintaining a license to RM50 per year, if I remember correctly, and announced insurance for them, to massive cheers. I don’t remember which insurance he meant, but I’ll assume it’s not general insurance, which has a fatwa against it, in Malaysia.

To be honest, I was disappointed that I didn’t see Dato’ Jamal Md. Yunos.

Transformasi Najib! I brought home 2 copies of this. I got it from one guy who had 4 copies!

They then presented him with tokens of appreciation.

I’m not sure what’s going on in this portrait – 111Malaysia?

And then something for his wife, Datin Paduka Seri Dr. Hajah Rosmah Binti Mansor.

And then the ladies went wild for old-school rocker, M. Nasir!

He didn’t bring a band. He sang his hits – Hati Emas, being one of them I remember.

Najib headed to a stall to make Teh Tarik, but I took pictures from behind. On the way, fans swamped him to get their Transformasi Najib book signed!

7 ‘blocks’ of rows.

6 rows per ‘block’. I regret not taking another picture to show this clearly.

Empty spots.

Another empty area.

Click image for larger version.

As you can see, there are about 38 seats in a row, in a tent.

Behind the shaded area, there were 19 more rows behind.

However, some rows were not full from left to right and tapered away.

3 non-VIP tents in total.

17 tables, with 10 seats each, in the VIP tent.

Ah Jib Kor also said that there were around 15,000 to 20,000 people present. So how many seats were there?

Number of seats from left to right = 38 seats/tent * 3 tents = 114 seats
Number of rows from front to back = (6 rows/block * 7 blocks) + 19 rows beyond the tents = 42 rows + 19 rows = 61 rows
Number of seats in the VIP tent area = 17 tables * 10 seats/table = 170 seats
Total number of seats = (114 seats * 61 rows) + 170 seats = 6954 seats + 170 seats = 7124 seats

Sure, there were pockets of empty seats, but there were also people lingering outside at the fountain, so they even out.

I hereby state my estimate as 8000 people.

However, the committee who gave out the shirts and registered people should be able to give a much more solid number.

And then it was time for Ah Jib Kor and Rosmah Mansor to leave.

Seriously, he rocks his cap.

Not sure what these bikers do – I can only assume they are part of his security entourage. Not sure what’s up with the face masks though.

Meanwhile, back at Dataran Merdeka, a cleaner wears a DBKL Unit Flying Squad shirt. I wonder how he got it.

As I walked back, I passed an interesting license plate!