Bersih 3.0: Charging Anwar, Azmin & Chegubard a desperate political move

The Attorney-General acting on the behest of Barisan Nasional is at it again. Having failed to stop Anwar Ibrahim with trumped-up sodomy charges, they are now trying again.

This afternoon, Anwar Ibrahim ( the Leader of the Opposition) , Azmin Ali and Badrul Hisham received summonses to appear in the Jalan Duta Court tomorrow morning to be charged in relation to purported offences connected with the Bersih 3.0 rally on 28th April 2012.

Ample video evidence

One charge alleges a breach of the Court order dated 26.4.2012 issued by Magistrate Zaki Ashraf. The charge Anwar and the other will face is allegedly causing a breach of the barricades to take place.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat views this charge as ludicrous and frivolous bearing in mind that the ample video evidence that he had directed the crowd to go down Jalan Tengku Abdul Rahman.

Furthermore, the legal validity of the Court order is itself suspect for non-compliance with the Peaceful Assembly Act itself. It is also now clear that the police barricades themselves were not in compliance with the order.

The second charge is that of being present in a street protest contrary to the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012. This prosecution of Anwar and the others under this Act shows up the complete hypocrisy in Prime Minister Najib's so-called "political transformation" or "liberalisation" programme. Pakatan's portentious warnings in Parliament in December 2011 that this Act was regressive compared to the older section 27 of the Police Act and would be abused are now vindicated.

From sodomy to Peaceful Assembly

It is ironic that the first prosecution of the Peaceful Assembly Act is directed against Anwar Ibrahim, the Leader of the Opposition. The political motivation of this new charge is clear.

Having failed to stop Anwar with the trumped up sodomy charge, the Attorney General Gani Patail, at the behest of his political masters, is now trying again in desperation to stop Anwar's unrelenting march to Putrajaya.

PKR warns Prime Minister Najib that this prosecution makes again a mockery of his claim to making Malaysia the "best democracy in the world". We will rally the people of Malaysia to oppose yet another blatant misuse and manipulation of our institutions.

Sivarasa Rasiah is the PKR MP for Subang