A Mania Is Born

A MANIA IS BORN

The first time I ever felt a mania in me, or close to it, was when I first saw Dave Clark, Mike Smith, Lenny Davidson, Rick Huxley and Denis Peyton of the Dave Clark Five group strolling out from the arrival hall at the old Subang International Airport in 1965. We were all there that day as we wanted to catch a glimpse of our stars. Girls were screaming and guys were busy crawling over one another trying to take snap shots of the group members. After that, we made a rush to the Federal Hotel in a friend's car to see them check in, followed by more screamings from the fans. After almost a couple of hours at the hotel, we made a beeline to Stadium Negara, and finally, the group made their appearance and performed. It was a kind of hysteria I have never seen before and I believe I must have gone deaf that day with all the screamings still ringing my ear.

Then came May 1972 when the Bee Gees made their first performance here, also at the Stadium Negara. Well, this time I was not that crazy anymore to go to the airport and then to the hotel catch a glimpse of Barry, Robin and Maurice. Seeing them performed on stage was good enough and the atmosphere that night at the stadium was equally electrifying as the DC5 concert. Screamings, and again, hysteria seemed to rule the day. Everyone was simply "letting it off". The noise was so bad that I could hardly hear the songs that were sung, but then nobody cared, simply because they were the Bee Gees in persons.

Fast forward to May 2014. From the many reports received, it appears that the DAP candidate for Teluk Intan, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, too have created a mania of sorts. Now the phenomenon is known as 'Dyanamania'. Every where she went, the crowd didn't seemed to get enough of her and according to one Malaysiakini report the attendance at each of her ceramahs was almost equal to that of a pop concert, thus giving her a pop star status. It is no mere wonder that those blokes in BN, especially UMNO Baru, have started to throw scorn at her, and to think Muhyiddin did say that Mah Siew Keong was 'handsome' enough to take on 'pretty' Dyana. They must have suddenly lost confidence in Mah's handsomeness. What about the Puteri Wing of UMNO Baru? Don't they have someone of Dyana's calibre to take on the challenge in Teluk Intan. Apparently, the answer is NONE and this further shows, the kind of members they have in the party where there is a lack of substance.