Pakatan steers clear of Haris’ demo plan

Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar says they do not condone overthrowing government through street demonstrations.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat today said the coalition does not condone overthrowing ruling Barisan Nasional through mass street demonstrations.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was responding to activist Haris Ibrahim’s statement that pro-Pakatan Rakyat NGOs would topple the federal government through massive street rallies.

“The proposal has never been submitted to us, it has never been discussed by Pakatan. Those are the views of some NGOs,” Anwar told a press conference here after a meeting involving Pakatan leaders.

He however did not fully disregard the idea of street demonstrations. Anwar maintained that street demonstrations should be held in a peaceful and orderly manner.

“We will confine purely to peaceful rallies at designated places.

“But we do not say no to peaceful rallies, we must let the people express their disgust at Umno-BN for stealing the election,” he added.

On Monday, pro-Pakatan Rakyat groups vowed to overthrow the BN government within the year through a massive street rally.

Speakers at a forum unanimously agreed that waiting for five years until the next general election was too long, and vowed to overthrow BN this year through “force”.

PKR vice-president and Batu MP Tian Chua had also thrown support behind their cry to overthrow BN through force, and said it was the people’s choice.

“The decision to wait another five years or fight is not the right of Pakatan leaders, the results during the polls were not of Pakatan… but the rakyat’s,” he said.

However, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution has since said Tian’s backing for the street rally was a personal stand and not reflective of Pakatan’s stand.

“The official decision must come from the top Pakatan leadership, not only theirs (Tian Chua),” he added.

DAP rejects street protests too

Earlier today DAP chairman Karpal Singh said his party too rejected the call for street protests to overthrow the BN government.

He said he could not accept the call for street protests despite agreeing that the recent general election was marred with irregularities.

“I agree there were fraud during the general election but we must address this using the court process,” he said.

While he commended Haris for opposing violent demonstrations, Karpal warned that a street protest may cause unrest if it was not handled properly.

He also commended PKR supremo Anwar for holding indoor rallies to create awareness among the masses on the electoral fraud that transpired during the general election.

To date, Anwar has held four major rallies nationwide, starting with Kelana Jaya on May 8. Last night he had a rally in Kuantan and one is scheduled for tonight in Johor Baru.