PKR tells AG, cops to stop hounding protesters

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has called on the police and the attorney-general (AG) to look at the new realities of the country having more democracy, instead of hounding protesters who attended the mammoth rally last Saturday.

Anwar (right) said police action in investigating the organisers and protesters is in bad faith, especially as Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had thanked the opposition for conducting the rally peacefully.

“We have followed all the conditions set. Even I was told by the police not to march out, with which I have complied. We also ended the event at 5pm, with which we complied,” he said.

When told that the authorities are investigating an alleged three violations on Saturday, Anwar said, “At first Umno said do not have it, (then) Najib said thank you, while Hishammuddin (Hussein) asked us to go to the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil and the Information, Communications and Culture Minister (Dr Rais Yatim) called this an illegal gathering.

“I feel that this is enough. Stop it. The image of the police in the eyes of the public is different now (as a result of what they are investigating. I think the AG and the police must first appreciate the new realities of the democratic transition. The AG should spend his time to focus on the abuse of power and corruption cases in the country,” he said.

Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo (left), who was representing Anwar in his defamation case, said he had heard the authorities now wanted to press charges on the participants.

“Let me say this to the AG - give democracy a chance. This is the first time that we have successfully had an event like this, and thousands of Malaysians have shown that they are mature enough.

“I think the AG should promote this culture (of freedom of assembling peacefully) among Malaysians rather then an aggressive approach to investigate or charge. I do not think there is a necessity,” said Gobind, who is from the DAP.

Crowd numbers revised

It was reported that the police are investigating the rally organisers over the alleged three violations, namely the crowd exceeded 30,000 people in Stadium Merdeka, parents were caught bringing children to participate in the event, and the presence of seditious banner at the event.

Meanwhile, think-tank Politweet has today revised its initial estimate of the number of participants to a more modest range of between 63,976 to 78,193 people.

This is about half of the group’s preliminary estimate of about150,000 participants at the rally’s peak, which it derived based on photos in the press and those shared on social media.

On Sunday, Politweet, a research firm that analyses Twitter usage, said the crowd had occupied an area of 424,149.14 square feet, not taking into account the stadium's seating capacity.

That figure too was revised to 275,532.03 square feet, it was revealed today.