KUALA LUMPUR - As public pressure mounts on embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is facing quit calls amid accusations of cheating at the May 5 general elections, the police have re-arrested two Opposition politicians, an activist and a student leader.
The arrests made in an unnecessarily showy manner are believed to be a bid to create public fear and block growing support for the Opposition's hugely popular Black 505 rallies as well as a campaign to get 100,000 police reports lodged against the country's controversial Election Commission, which has been slammed by many for unscrupulous bias towards Najib's BN coalition during the recently-concluded ballot.
Tian Chua, the PKR vice president, was re-arrested by the police at around 9.30pm on Tuesday, joining PAS politician Tamrin Ghafar and lawyer Haris Ibrahim who were both picked up earlier this evening.
"I have just be re-arrested and am on my way to Dang Wangi. Will be charged tomorrow morning (Wednesday May 29)," Tian told Malaysia Chronicle in an SMS message.
"I consider this a protracted intimidation tactic by an insecure and illegitimate regime. I call on the people not to be frightened but to continue to fight against the return of authoritarian rule. If the police want to charge us tomorrow, all they need is to notify us & we will turn up in court - why all these drama? Show power!"
According to Tian, who is also the Batu MP, there were at least 8 policemen present at the time of his arrest, which he believes is an unnecessarily high number given that he is an elected representative of the people and has a strong record of public service.
Deliberately creating a lot of noise to scare the people
Tian's detention comes as PKR adviser Anwar Ibrahim slammed the re-arrests of Tamrin and Haris as further proof of the ruling BN coalition's "cruel" and oppressive law.
"Apa lagi? Zalim Kjaan minoriti umno ni! (What next. This minority government is very cruel)," Anwar tweeted.
Former president of the Malaysian Bar Council and Bersih co-chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan also minced no words about the perceived high-handedness of the latest police move.
"Why rearrest if going to charge tomorrow. Therefore arrest not for investigation. No respect for magistrates decision last Friday," Ambiga tweeted.
Fear of a people's revolt
Tian, Tamrin and Haris were freed on May 24 after a magistrate rejected the police application for their remand under the Sedition Act 1948 and the Penal Code. The trio are believed to have been originally detained over their involvement in a forum on May 13 over the results of the just-concluded general election.
“They are now in the Dang Wangi district police headquarters. They have been rearrested under the Sedition Act. “We don’t really know much about the situation and we are going there now,” The Star had reported MP for Puchong Gobind Singh Deo as saying. Gobind was referring to Tamrin and Haris.
Student activist Muhammad Safwan Anang was also detained by the police on Tuesday.
Last week, another student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim was charged with sedition for his involvement in the same May 13 forum where he was accused of rallying Malaysians to take to the streets to topple the BN government.
The 24-year-old has pleaded not guilty and was released on RM5,000 bail with his trial set for a mention on July 2.
Meanwhile, Nik Nazmi, the state assemblyman for Seri Setia who was arrested earlier this month for organizing the first of the Black 505 rallies on May 8 at the Kelana Jaya stadium, will make his defence when his case is called for mention at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court at 2.00pm on Wednesday.
Nik, who is also the PKR communications director, was charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act.
MORE TO COME
Malaysia Chronicle
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