With less than 100,000 inhabitants of its own and located about two hours' drive away from the nearest major city of Kuala Lumpur, the quiet district of Raub seems small and isolated.

However, for a few hours yesterday, it became the focal point for environmentalists and civil rights activists of virtually every stripe as about 10,000 protesters gathered on a field on the northern edge of town the town centre.

The protest dubbed ‘Himpunan Hijau Raub' was yet another protest against the use of cyanide since 2009 by the Raub Australia Gold Mine Sdn Bhd (RAGM) at the gold mine adjacent to Kampung Baru Bukit Koman, for which residents blame for the various diseases they suffer.

Despite that, protesters championing various environmental causes throughout the country were well-represented at the rally, which started under a scorching 2pm sun at the Raub sports complex field.

Just a day before the rally, the organisers announced that 34 NGOs had pledged support for the cause, bringing the total to 60.

Among those invited to speak included NGOs opposing the oil refinery project in Pengerang, Johor, the now-decommissioned Asian Rare Earth factory in Bukit Merah, Perak, the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, the incinerator project in Cameron Highlands, a high-voltage cable project in Rawang, and Orang Asli defending Tasik Chini NONE from logging and mining activities.

Civil society groups were also present and among those who made speeches there were Bersih steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah ( right ) and Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) chairperson Tan Yew Sing.

Although largely a civil society initiative, Pakatan Rakyat and its supporters did not miss out on the rally and were led by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP vice-chairperson Tan Seng Giaw, and PAS information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

NONE "I see many friends from outside as well as many people from Raub. I believe there are 15,000 here today," Himpunan Hijau Raub chairperson Wong Kin Hoong ( left ) told reporters after the rally ended yesterday evening.

Estimating the crowd size was not easy, even from vantage points on the stage or from the two crude two-metre tall platforms set up for photojournalists at the rear of the field.

While some 8,000 protesters had gathered in front of the stage clad in green T-shirts, many had also sought shelter from the hot sun under the trees outside the field.

The march begins...

Their numbers became clearer when the protesters took to the streets, marching to the beat of drums, bleating trumpets and chants of "Ban Cyanide."

himpunan hijau raub 020912 The crowd was predominantly Chinese Malaysian, although small groups of Malays and Indians were also spotted among the masses.

The ban on street protests is part of an agreement between the organisers and the police, and as compromise, the police promised that a management-level RAGM representative would come to receive the memorandum.

However, the representative was nowhere to be seen 30 minutes after the handover was supposed to take place at 3.30pm, prompting Wong to call for the march.

Raub OCPD Wan Mohd Samsudin Wan Osman with a few other officers tried to stop the protesters from marching, with Wan Mohd Samsudin shouting, "Stop. I want to speak with the organisers."

However, his attempts were in vain as the organisers and a group of other protestors simply slipped past him.

Wan Mohd Samsudin's second attempt five minutes later was more successful, and after a heated exchange with the organisers, he was given a loud hailer to address the crowd.

He said he was happy and congratulated the protesters for the peaceful rally, but reminded them that as a condition for allowing the rally, street protests are banned.

himpunan hijau raub 020912 wan mohd samsudin wan osman "I understand what your goal is and I hope to help realise what you are yet to achieve, which is to handover the memorandum. Actually, the representatives are on the way and are late, but it does not mean they are not coming.

Two representatives arrived soon after.

"Now, they are here and we can do the memorandum handover here. Can we do this?" Wan Mohd Samsudin ( left ) asked, to which the crowd gave a resounding "Yes."

Mood turns sour

However, the mood turned sour again when organisers saw the two representatives and shouted, "Cheat!"

One representative introduced himself as a security chief, and the other a designer.

The organisers demanded that the two leave, agreed with the OCPD's proposal that he would hand over the memorandum instead, and the crowd began to disperse.

Beside senior RAGB staff, also missing from the rally was the local MP Dr Ng Yen Yen and Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob.

The two were also invited to the rally, but seats reserved for them remained empty throughout the rally.

NONE Meanwhile, protesters had a field day mocking Ng, whom Wong said (and many protesters agreed with him) had been avoiding them.

Some of the protestors were wearing masks of her face, and one even carried a large mock ‘missing persons notice' for Ng, who is also tourism minister.

Upon seeing Ng's caricature on the banner, some protesters ran up to it and began to slap her image with their hands and their slippers.

One protestor, dressed in yellow robes and posing as a as a Taoist priest, tried to ‘exorcise' the banner by waving a wooden sword and amulets in front of the it, and slapping the caricature with the amulets as well.

At a press conference after the rally, Wong expressed regret that Adnan and Ng were absent. Press to comment further about Ng's absence, Wong simply said, "We wish her all the best."

Asked about Adnan's statement that Pahang was becoming a ‘demonstration tourism' destination, Himpunan Hijau Raub secretary Chong Pui Har remarked, "No wonder Pahang has so many harmful projects."

Additional reporting by Lee Long Hui