Tunku Abdul Aziz condemns rally

Umno has dubbed the rally 'Taharin Square', after Shamsidar Taharin

Dr Chandra said he was disturbed to learn that the appearance of a witness in a court case related to a defamation suit would be raised during the Saturday rally. 

(The Sun Daily) - Two internationally-acclaimed Malaysian social activists have condemned the so-called Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat (People Uprising Rally) to be held here tomorrow, which they refer to as nothing more than a betrayal of public trust and a mockery of democracy.

Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim sees clearly, the hands of some opposition leaders behind the rally to obscure the truth about numerous personal problems afflicting them.

On his part, Dr Chandra Muzaffar says it is a shameful act that all champions of freedom and democracy should condemn as crude, vulgar and despicable.

Tunku Abdul Aziz told Bernama that the rally was actually not a protest against any critical national issue but rather a non-issue, at best, and a betrayal of public trust, at worst.

"An opposition leader is again doing what he does best and that is to pull the wool over our eyes so as to obscure the truth.

"The truth is that this is a matter for the man to resolve, without dragging innocent thousands into the stadium to support a cause that is both selfish and cynical in the extreme," said Tunku Abdul Aziz, better known for his various roles in worldwide anti-corruption movement and a former special adviser to former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan.

"He who makes the bed should lie on it himself, but then it would not be that Opposition Leader, would it?" he asked.

Tunku Abdul Aziz could not hide his contempt over the organisers of the rally.

"I should have thought members of the public would have seen through this little charade but I am disappointed that there are reasonable people among us who are willing to be led by the nose to endorse an act that morally reprehensible.

"The opposition will obviously stop at nothing to cause maximum chaos and anxiety in a society that has become tired of the sort of irresponsible antics that have become the opposition's weapons of choice," he added.

Tunku Abdul Aziz was a strong opponent of the Bersih 3.0 rally held here last year and he showed this by resigning from the DAP which supported street demonstrations. He was then a DAP vice-chairman.

"I would urge my fellow Malaysians, in particular, not to allow themselves to be hoodwinked by an irresponsible opposition bent on getting to Putrajaya, no matter what it takes in human costs, not their own, naturally."

Dr Chandra, who is president of the International Movement for a Just World (Just), said if the rally became a channel for merely ventilating hate and anger based on outrageous lies and distortions, it would make a mockery of democracy and a subversion of freedom.

He said he was disturbed to learn that the appearance of a witness in a court case related to a defamation suit would be raised during the Saturday rally.

"If this is true, there is an attempt to use 'people power' to prevent the judicial process from taking its course.

"It would be a terrible travesty of justice. Only fascists manipulate the masses against the court system," he told Bernama.