Perkasa decides on Stadium Titiwangsa

Ibrahim Ali is confident that the police will grant Perkasa permit because the movement is planning to hold a peaceful rally.

PETALING JAYA: Perkasa has decided to hold its counter rally at Stadium Titiwangsa and submitted an application for the premise today.

The Malay right-wing group also applied for a police permit at the Sentul police headquarters this afternoon to hold its rally on Saturday in conjunction with Bersih 2.0′s rally.

Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali explained that the delay in applying for a permit was due to its challenge in obtaining an enclosed venue especially a stadium in which to hold its rally.

“In fact, we are still waiting for approval from the Stadium Titiwangsa management and Kuala Lumpur City Hall,” he said.

“But time is ticking and we are appealing to the management to approve our application and to the police to grant us a permit as soon as possible,” he told FMT.

However, Ibrahim was confident that the police would grant Perkasa the permit.

“Ours is a peaceful assembly for the people to voice their opposition towards Bersih, an illegal organisation that is being illegally funded to tarnish the country’s image and threaten national security,” he said.

Ibrahim also said that if Stadium Titiwangsa was already booked on July 9 then Perkasa would have no choice but to reschedule its rally.

No fear of overcrowding

Ibrahim announced yesterday that Perkasa’s rally would proceed as planned and that it was eyeing Stadium Merdeka which is also Bersih’s choice of venue. However the stadium management has since rejected Perkasa’s application as it did Bersih’s.

“Stadium Merdeka has rejected our application,” Ibrahim confirmed in a text message to FMT.

“We have also tried other places but faced similar problems. And we cannot gather in a open space. We even tried for the TNB stadium in Bangsar but we were turned down as well.”

Stadium Titiwangsa has a capacity of about 2,500. Perkasa is expecting a crowd of 15,000. But its secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali waved aside any concerns of overcrowding.

“I don’t think there will be a problem,” he said. “We will all just stand. Our rally will start at 12pm and end when the police tell us to wrap it up.”

While the status of the venue hangs in a balance, Ibrahim is confident of being granted a police permit by 12pm tomorrow.

“Ours is a peaceful assembly for the people to voice their opposition towards Bersih, an illegal organisation that is being illegally funded to tarnish the country’s image and threaten national security,” he pointed out.