300 anti-Pakatan protestors march on Selangor state secretariat

Anti-PR protestors hold Selangor flags during a demonstration outside the state government office complex in Shah Alam on July 11, 2012. — Picture by Lisa Ariffin

SHAH ALAM, July 11 — Brandishing flags and banners, a 300-strong crowd of demonstrators gathered at Dataran Shah Alam this morning to protest what they claim to be the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government’s mishandling of various state affairs, including its Yayasan Selangor’s RM7.41 million loss.

The demonstrators appeared to consist of nine separate groups, including University Selangor (Unisel) students and Malay non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Gerakan Prihatin Rakyat Selangor (GPRS), Tolak Individu Bernama Anwar Ibrahim (Tibai) and Waris Malaya.

Loudly chanting “Hidup rakyat! Hancur Pakatan! Undur Pakatan! (Long live the people! Destroy Pakatan! Step down, Pakatan!)”, the crowd later marched towards the state secretariat in the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz building to hand a memorandum of their demands to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

In the memorandum, the group demanded Khalid stop his “political interference” in Unisel’s board and to retain an existing field at the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) complex as recreational grounds instead of changing its status for commercial development.

The memo also alleged that Yayasan Selangor was involved in misappropriating public funds.

The group was barred from entering the state secretariat grounds but managed to deliver their demands to Khalid’s private secretary, Norzatun Aini, who met them at the state government complex gates.

“This is just the first warning to the MB. We have given him a week to address these three issues, that’s adequate time,” GPRS member Mohamad Zainal Khamis told reporters after handing over the memorandum.

“If the MB fails to address our demands, we will bring more people. We hope he will act in the interest of the people.”

Khalid had previously defended his appointment of three politicians from PKR and PAS to Unisel’s board of directors, saying they were based on the trio’s qualifications.

Last Wednesday, The Star newspaper reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been urged to look into alleged abuse of power that resulted in the reclassification of the land status of the PKNS field in Kelana Jaya from recreational to commercial.