Police: Rally speakers may be charged

Selangor police chief Hisan Hamzah says he may pursue sedition charges against most of the 33 speakers at the rally.

KUALA LUMPUR: Police said Thursday that speakers at a mass rally led by Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to protest against alleged election fraud could face sedition charges.

The announcement was swiftly condemned by Anwar’s party as a “politically motivated threat” aimed at silencing opposition claims that last Sunday’s hard-fought elections were stolen by the ruling coalition.

Vowing to “never surrender” as he addressed a sea of supporters at a rally in a Kuala Lumpur suburb, Anwar late Wednesday announced that a series of protest gatherings would be held around the country.

During the rally attended by tens of thousands, dressed in black to protest at the election outcome, Anwar denounced the Barisan Nasional government of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as “illegitimate”.

Selangor police chief Hisan Hamzah, told AFP he may pursue sedition charges against most of the 33 speakers at the rally. He would not confirm whether Anwar would be among them.

“This is a very serious offence,” he said, declining to give further details. Sedition carries a penalty of up to five year’s jail.

“This illegal police investigation is clearly intended to divert attention from the massive electoral fraud and irregularities that are being highlighted by Pakatan Rakyat,” a statement by Anwar’s party said.

Police had earlier threatened to arrest rally participants, but with tension high over the country’s closest-ever election result, no police were seen.

Anwar has battled Barisan since he was ousted from its top ranks in 1998 and jailed for six years on sex and corruption charges widely seen as trumped-up.

He called for another rally in Penang on Saturday, with more to follow around Malaysia.

- AFP

No more street rallies, warns Muhyiddin

Muhyiddin said Malaysia’s election system was time tested and ought to be acceptable to all. — file pic

 

DENPASAR, July 18 — With Putrajaya still reeling from the July 9 Bersih rally, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today warned Pakatan Rakyat (PR) that the government will brook no further street demonstrations.


“Do not take any threatening action (towards the administration). We will not bow to threats but since they (PR) have a political motive, they are trying to make it look as though the government is insensitive, our electoral system is outdated and that our general elections had been conducted improperly,” Bernama Online quoted the deputy prime minister as saying today.

Muhyiddin today maintained the establishment line on the list of electoral reforms demanded by Bersih, but added that Barisan Nasional was also interested in improving the present system.

“Our electoral system has been tested for more than five decades and this system should be accepted by all,” he said.

Bersih is persisting with its eight reform demands for free and fair elections, but chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan has said that no further rallies are being planned.

The July 9 Bersih rally has sent the Najib administration on the back foot, and criticism of the way it suppressed the mass gathering has taken on a global nature.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrived in the UK for a four-day visit last week and was greeted by a scathing editorial in The Guardian that compared his administration to ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

On Tuesday, US national daily The Wall Street Journal said the government’s response to the Bersih 2.0 rally has created an environment of fear and repression in Malaysia.

Despite the efforts to prevent the rally from taking place, tens of thousands converged on the capital city in a march for free and fair elections.

The protest, which the government earlier declared illegal, turned chaotic close to midday when the police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protestors.

Bersih warns of Egypt-style rally

The electoral reform groups points out that the government in Egypt fell because the people could not exercise their voting rights in a free and fair manner.

KUALA LUMPUR: Electoral reform group Bersih may consider holding a second mass rally ala Egypt’s Tahrir Square uprising to demand for reform in Malaysia’s election system.

The idea will have PAS’ backing, said Mohd Sabu, chief of the Islamic party’s Democracy Driver Committee.
According to him, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has forced voters to resort to such a move.
“The BN government is forcing people to take the streets,” he told a press conference at the PAS headquarters here.

Bersih held its first mass rally in the city in late 2007 which saw close to 80,000 people taking to the streets to protest against the Election Commission (EC) and its alleged biasness.

Two new demands
The protesters marched towards the National Palace to hand over a memorandum demanding the implementation of four key reforms:

The review of the alleged tainted electoral roll, abolishing postal votes, fair media coverage and a minimum of 21 days campaigning period for the general election.

PAS, whose leaders sit on the Bersih Steering Committee, said two more demands have been added to the original – that constituency delineation be done based on social needs and better enforcement to prevent political bribery.

One of the leaders, PAS central working committee member Dr Dzulkelfly Ahmad cited two alleged cases of “blatant” political bribery made by BN chairman and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

One was in the Sibu by-election where Najib was quoted by the media as saying “you help me, I help you” when he promised voters there to tackle the prolonged flood problems if BN won the parliamentary seat.

Dzulkefly said Najib made an almost similar remark at the recent Kerdau by-election in Pahang that saw PAS defeated by BN.

The premier purportedly told Kerdau voters during a ceramah “we do not buy votes but if you support us we will increase your allocation”.

“If this is not corruption, I don’t know what is corruption,” the PAS leader told the same press conference.
There were no concrete discussions yet on the second rally dubbed “Bersih 2″ but Mohd Sabu hinted that a mass demonstration was more than likely.

“Whether or not we take to the streets depends on the leader. If they do not meet our demands (for electoral reform), then the voters will definitely resort to street protest,” he said.

Should Bersih decide otherwise, the former PAS vice-president said the PAS leadership would meet to discuss what path to take next.

Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin had both warned against any attempt by opposition supporters to emulate the bloody Egypt uprising and accused Pakatan Rakyat leaders of intentionally using the upheaval there to instigate their supporters.

However, Mohd Sabu said the rally would not be held to topple BN but to demand what “is inherently the voters’ right to free and fair elections.”

“The government of Egypt fell because the voters no longer can exercise a fair, free election and they resorted to street protests,” he added.

EC deputy chairman must resign
Meanwhile, Syed Azman Syed Ahmad, another PAS central working committee member who sits with the Bersih leadership, claimed that he has evidence that deputy EC chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar was conspiring with BN to topple Pakatan state governments.

He made no disclosure of the proof to back his allegation but demanded Wan Ahmad’s immediate resignation.

“He is supposed to act impartially but he has been blatantly open in his support and has acted like a BN stool,” said Syed Azman.

Folly to ignore the cry for justice

The rally organised by Hindraf appears as a last resort to get the government to treat the Indian community with respect.

COMMENT

When Malay-rights group Perkasa keeps making racist remarks, does it translate to all Malays’ being racist? If not, then what made the Barisan Nasional (BN) government think that all Indians out on the streets of Kuala Lumpur on Sunday were “criminals”, all because Hindraf decided to hold a rally?

The police in their bid to halt the rally to protest Umno’s racial discrimination, turned up at Human Rights Party (HRP) leader P Uthayakumar’s residence, handcuffing and taking him in for questioning.

On what grounds did the police handcuff Uthayakumar? Is he a criminal just because he organised a rally without police permit? If he is, then equally guilty are the people who demonstrated when the non-Malays complain about the loud call for prayer made by mosques.

Just as guilty are those Malays who cold-bloodedly severed a cow’s head, spit and stomp on it. And the biggest cuplrit would then be Perkasa whose founder Ibrahim Ali keeps threatening non-Malays to shut up and not question Malay rights.

Have the police taken any action against them? No and it seems the police never will.

The “Solidarity Against Umno’s Racism” march, organised by two ethnic Indian groups, the Hindu Rights Action Force and Huma Rights Party at Kuala Lumpur on Feb 27 was to protest against the government’s decision to ignore the Indian community’s strong objections over the disparaging contents in the novel “Interlok” which is a compulsory reading material for Form Five students.

On Feb 24, the Dang Wangi police rejected a formal request made by W Sambulingam, national coordinator of Hindraf, to hold the rally.

Granted that such rallies cause great inconvenience to the public and temporarily paralyse the city’s activities but what prompted it in the first place?

To keep warning the people to stay away from such rallies and not challenge the police authority is nothing but an act of bully. Is it a coincidence or deliberate move to target the Indians all because they are unhappy over the discrimination they have been putting up with? The move by the police to nab any Indian found walking on the streets of Kuala Lumpur to teach all Indians a lessons is not going to place Umno in the good books of this community.

When national laureate Abdullah Hussain goes and portrays the Chinese and Indians in a degrading manner in his book Interlok, what should be done to avoid racial conflict? Would it not be best that such a reading material be withdrawn due to its contentious nature? Instead, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also education minister, showed no empathy and decided Interlok would remain as a reading material for students but with alterations.

Rallies a last resort

But then Muhyiddin’s reaction was not a surprise since it was he who proudly claimed that he is “Malay first” and then a Malaysian.

Life always presents us with options and in Hindraf’s case, it could have decided to not go ahead with its rallies. But it did. Why? Is the purpose solely to gain political mileage? Looking at the state-of-affairs affecting the Indians, the rallies appear as a last resort to get the government to “wake up” and treat the Indian community with respect.

Yes, the rallies pose a headache to the lay person but then this seems the only way to get the “powers that be” to sit up and realise their folly. Also, unlike the cow head carried by Muslim protesters, Hindraf demonstrators did no such thing – all they ask is for their grouses to be heard and addressed in a fair manner.

How would the Indians have felt when former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed that this country belongs to the Malays by virtue of it once being called “Tanah Melayu”?

The country achieved independence 53 years ago but racial discord among people of different faiths is still going strong. Why?

The nation’s oil and gas company, Petronas, takes great pride in splashing money to build mosques throughout the country. But for the non-Malays, they have to work hard at getting funds to construct their places of worship. Why this discrimination?

When issues concerning Malay rights assured under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution are raised, the Malays are quick to threaten the non-Malays, to the point of willing to kill those who question privileges enjoyed by the Malays. Is there no decent way to react apart from threats of bloodshed?

It is no exaggeration to say that the plight of the Indian community has long been ignored. It is bad enough that the MIC failed to champion the welfare of the Indians, resulting in entities like Hindraf taking shape. Why did MIC not protect the rights of the Indians and what was holding MIC back from doing so?

These days you hardly get to see an Indian face at government departments. All the top government posts are occupied by the Malays. Whatever happened to the non-Malays? Because of the discrimination and no prospect for promotion, non-Malays have moved to work in the private sector where they do get some recogntion for their efforts.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia concept is hardly of concern to the fast-food chains who lack non-Malay faces at their premises. And the fact that some Malays like the residents of Section 23 in Shah Alam who refused to let a Hindu temple take shape in their neigbourhood speaks volumes of the failure of 1Malaysia.

Dead in custody

There have been several cases of Indian men caught by the police ending up dead while in custody. Why is this happening and who is looking into this matter to ensure it does not happen again?

Detainee A Kugan died in police custody and the policeman said to have physically abused him was declared a free man by the court. Why?

Malaysia’s refusal to allow the Hindraf rally to take place is an act of arrogance and disrespect. Even the call made by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to respect Malaysia’s international and legal obligations and allow Sunday’s Solidarity March Against Racism to proceed was ignored.

HRW’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, said: “The Malaysian government’s opposition to peaceful marches results in three big losers: the rights to free expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly.”

“The Malaysian government’s commitment to diversity and development is betrayed when it refuses to permit peaceful criticism of its policies and programmes.

“Banning this march makes a mockery of the principles the government pledged to uphold when it assumed its seat on the United Nation’s Human Rights Council,” Robertson said in press statement.

Hishammuddin had earlier said that Hindraf would not get a police permit to march.

“It is a banned movement… It doesn’t have locus standi to ask for a permit,” he said.

The government banned Hindraf after it staged a massive demonstration in Kuala Lumpur in 2007. Meanwhile, HRP has applied for registration and its application is still pending.

Post-2007, has the government become so insecure and afraid of the Indian community’s anger that it quickly started a crackdown on the HRP’s right to peaceful assembly?

Recruitment drive
On Feb 13, barely two weeks before the scheduled march, HRP initiated a grassroots information and recruitment drive in several states, dispatching convoys of cars loaded with activists wearing the group’s distinctive orange T-shirts and carrying posters, banners, and assorted promotional materials to various locales.

Police, however, stopped the convoys at roadblocks and diverted participants to police stations, where many were detained.

The police arrested at least 59 people on various grounds. In one instance, participants were held for driving in a convoy without a permit. In other instances, police charged the activists with illegal assembly, interference with on-duty officers, obstructing traffic and moving in a large group in a busy area.

Some participants, held overnight, were offered their freedom if they gave up their orange T-shirts, but when it became clear they would not do so, they were released on bail.

On Feb 20, police in three locations broke up HRP forums designed to explain the group’s concerns about certain issues and to continue membership recruitment. The police claimed that permission to hold the forums had been denied.

HRP leaders were among some 59 arrested and eventually all were released on bail. In a further pre-emptive move, M Gobalakrishnan, the person named on fliers as the contact for further information in Hulu Selangor, was picked up at his home by six plainclothes officers and detained hours before the local meeting was to begin. Police also sealed off the forum site. Gobalakrishnan has since been released.

In November 2007, between 10,000 and 30,000 people participated in the first Hindraf-organised demonstration.

The then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reportedly said that Hindraf leaders undermined national security by threatening racial and religious harmony.

Following the protest, the government detained five Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and banned Hindraf.

Hisham & co in denial, says Hindraf

Adviser Ganesan says the movements anti-racism campaign is “very much alive”.

UPDATED

GEORGE TOWN: Hindraf Makkal Sakthi has castigated the Home Minister and other Barisan Nasional leaders for equating the foiling of Sunday’s protest march with the movement’s alleged loss of popularity.

Hindraf advisor N Ganesan said the conclusion was ludicrous and reflected only BN’s wishful thinking.

BN leaders were in denial and should stop insulting the intelligence of ordinary Malaysians, he added.

“Popularity and support cannot be accurately adjudged by the size of the crowd,” he told FMT.

“Furthermore, it was the police dragnet that prevented the crowd from getting bigger.

“But Hindraf’s anti-racism campaign is very much alive.”

Ganesan was commenting on claims by several BN leaders, including Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, that Hindraf had lost support among Malaysian Indians.

They said this was the reason that police succeeded in preventing the march from KLCC.

Scores of Hindraf activists, including legal adviser P Uthayakumar, national coordinator W Sambulingam and Ganesan himself, were detained in a pre-demonstration police crackdown on Sunday morning.

Police also arrested Indian men and women found around KLCC.

“The real measurement of popularity is whether the people believe in Hindraf’s struggle,” Ganesan said.

Because of the police clampdown, he said, no one could now say for sure how many people actually turned up for the march.

Many protestors on their way to KLCC turned back after hearing that police had foiled the protest, he claimed.

Five activists charged today

The massive deployment of police against the protest exposed Umno’s fear of the movement, he said.

“If we lack support, why should the Umno government initiate such a massive security operation to halt our peaceful march?”

But the crackdown had not dampened Hindraf’s fighting spirit, he said.

“Indeed, it is a morale booster for the movement to intensify its struggle to get the novel Interlok off the school shelves.”

He said Hindraf was not against the novel remaining in bookshops because it respected freedom of expression.

But, he stressed, the movement was against the book being in schools because it would further the cause of racists.

He described the book as “shallow”, and said it distorted historical and cultural facts and was a symbol of Umno racism.

He said Hindraf would continue to galvanise the people to rise and vote out the “racist Umno government”.

Meanwhile in another development, five Hindraf activists, including spokesman S Jayathas, were arrested in Kuala Lumpur today and were charged at the Selayang Sessions’ Court for being involved in a banned organisation – Hindraf – under Section 43 of the Societies Act. All five claimed trial.

Jayathas, K Navakrishna, K Tamil Selvam, T Periasamy dan S Loshna Rau were accused of committing the offence at Bukit Kanching, Jalan Ipoh, Rawang on Feb 13.

Loshna also faced another charge of disrupting a police officer from carrying out his duties.

Deputy public prosecutor Ridha Abdah Subri prosecuted while the five were represented by P Uthayakumar.

BERSIH 2.0: All Hell Breaks Loose with Proxy Voting

PRESS STATEMENT

BERSIH 2.0 urges the Election Commission to withdraw its proposal of proxy voting, warning that all hell may break loose when proxy voting is abused, threatening even the legitimacy of the next government.

BERSIH 2.0 will organise a public forum later this month on absentee voting reform, which is the real solution to help address the issue of absentee voters. The coalition hopes EC Chairperson or his representative will participate as a panelist to respond to the public’s concerns.

BERSIH 2.0 stresses that proxy voting is highly vulnerable for democratizing countries like Malaysia because it may succumb to vote buying or coercion, resulting in disenfranchisement. Bosses may ask employees to sign away their voting rights.

So will superiors their subordinates, husbands their wives (or vice versa) and parents their children. In the most absurd scenario, loan sharks (Ah Longs) may even force every of their debtors to be registered as voters and then sign away their ballots, which can then be traded to political parties.

BERSIH 2.0 warns that, widespread disenfranchisement will erode the legitimacy of the new government – whichever parties are elected – and land the nation into political chaos. There are already enough allegations of bosses controlling employees’ voting in East Malaysia and under the current postal voting system, coerced proxy voting in military barracks and police stations.

BERSIH 2.0 says that the way to help address the issue of absentee voters is to make postal voting available to all and mandatory to none. All voters with reasonable grounds to be away from their constituency on polling day should be allowed to vote by postal ballots, provided they apply in advance, say, three weeks before polling day.
Under the current system, postal voting is imposed on military and police voters, but available as an option to only overseas bureaucrats and students and election officials.

BERSIH 2.0 expresses regret that the EC plans to propose 30 changes to the electoral process to the Cabinet without consulting civil society and political parties. Nothing was raised in BERSIH 2.0′s meeting with the EC last November.

BERSIH also criticizes the EC, whose independence is provided for by the Federal Constitution, for reducing itself to a subordinate body of the Cabinet by seeking the latter’s permission for any changes. It has failed to fulfill its constitutional mandate and, therefore, not gain public confidence.

Issued by

Bersih 2.0 Steering Committee

Contact:

SC members — Wong Chin Huat @ 019 350 2823 or Maria Chin Abdullah @ 013 342 2931