100,000 Protestors joined the anti-Anwar rally on Saturday

To cut a long story short, I estimate the crowd size at the Turun Anwar rally on Saturday to be around 75,000 to 100,000 people.

I made this estimate was standing on one side of the road where the crowd was marching in.

I counted that each row had about 10 people, and in a single minute, around 25 rows passed by. That means the crowd was flowing into Dataran Merdeka at a rate of 250 people per minute.

I stayed there from 2:06 PM to 2:50 PM, and during that entire time, the flow of people was non-stop. The only reason it stopped at around 2:50 PM was because the front section had already filled up — not because the crowd had thinned out.

So in the 45 minutes I stood there, roughly 10,000 people passed me by.

Looking beyond the stage area, I could see a sea of people, stretching as far as the eye could see.

I estimate the number of people who couldn’t get near the stage to be about three to four times those who could — putting the total on my side at around 50,000.

And this was just from one side of Dataran Merdeka.

There were also people entering from another direction.

I believe the crowd from the other side was smaller — perhaps half the size of what I saw. So altogether, I estimate the rally turnout to be around 75,000.

Adding to that, there were at least another 25,000 miscellaneous individuals — people who were already at the square before I arrived, those seated or standing in shaded or covered areas, or simply not visible in the flow I observed.

So I think it’s safe to say the total crowd size on Saturday was about 100,000.

If someone claimed it was 200,000, I could still entertain that.

But numbers like 500,000 or a million? That feels highly exaggerated.

Even 300,000 seems like a stretch.

To me, a realistic range would be:

• Minimum: 50,000
• Maximum: 250,000
• Most reasonable estimate: 100,000

In terms of ethnicity, the crowd was overwhelmingly Malay — I only spotted two Chinese and three Indians during the entire time I was there.

And they weren’t urban KL Malays — most had the vibe of northern or east coast Malays.

I didn’t stay long enough to see the main speakers come out — it began drizzling around 3 PM, and I didn’t want to be caught in the dispersing crowd.

But by the time I left, I felt I had already captured the vibe and energy level of the rally.

So, the big question — will Anwar fall because of this rally?

I don’t think so.

That many Malays — especially PAS supporters from the north and east — reject Anwar is not news. We’ve known this for the past three years.

This rally didn’t reveal anything new.

In my view, the biggest winner of this rally is PAS.

It’s clear to me that PAS supporters were the ones mobilizing the turnout. And from what we saw, PAS still commands massive grassroots support among Malays.

There was nothing explicitly indicating they were PAS supporters — no party uniforms or green flags.

Most were just dressed in black, the official rally color.

So this is just my gut feeling.

But I’m quite certain they weren’t from UMNO or Bersatu — I’m confident the majority were PAS loyalists.

Through this rally, I feel that PAS has successfully demonstrated its strength.

That said, while PAS may have gained from this, Anwar cannot be said to have lost.

The rally was big, yes — but it didn’t bring anything new, and it lacked the energy, clarity, or momentum to become a turning point that could topple Anwar.

I believe this rally won’t shift the status quo.

Whatever Anwar’s standing was before the rally, it remains the same after.

In fact, I think this might be the last major rally we’ll see calling for Anwar to step down.

If more do happen, I doubt they’ll match the size or impact of this one.

In conclusion:

Yes, the rally was a success — but not successful enough to build sustained momentum for a larger movement.

It feels more like a one-off event.

If nothing happens in the immediate aftermath, then nothing will come of this rally.

Like a short rain on a hot day, I predict that this rally will leave no trace in reality, not long after it happened. By next week, I am quite certain everyone will forget that this rally even occurred.

TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!

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