UPDATE2 Police have served a notice on Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, demanding that he appear at the Ampang district police station for interrogation over a ceramah or political lecture he gave last Friday.
Anwar, the de-facto head of both the Pakatan Rakyat coalition and PKR party, had spoken on how Prime Minister Najib Razak's government and the Umno elite had tried to frame him as being the man caught on a video tape having sex with a female prostitute.
He has previously accused Najib and cousin Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein of abetting the conspiry to kill his political career. In his speech last Friday night, he had said the PM and wife Rosmah Mansor "tak berani berdepan dengan kita" (did not dare face the people).[Scroll below for the video]
Back to the wall after the video tape boomeranged on the conspirators as most Malaysians opted to believe Anwar rather than Najib, the Umno elite are not expected to retreat given that they hold the upperhand in terms of control over the police and the judiciary.
According to PKR leaders, more incredulous plots and actions can be expected in the days to come.
“This new investigation on Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim is under s.4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948 and s.27(5) of the Police Act 1967,” PKR vice president and human rights lawyer N Surendran said in a statement out on Thursday.
"These are both draconian amd unconstitutional laws which are regularly used by the Barisan Nasional goverment to prevent freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.”
According to Surendran, the police notice under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code was served on Anwar on Thursday and they had wanted him to appear at the station at 10.30am today.
Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle that Anwar was still in Sarawak and due to return only after nomination day for the state polls on April 6. "We will arrange another date," Surendran said.
Abuse of power
On March 25, at a gathering in Taman Melawati, police and FRU personnmel had tried to bar Anwar from speaking to the crowd. They limited his speech to 15 minutes but when they went up on stage to interrupt him after only 13 minutes had elapsed, the crowd turned unruly.
Upset by the police high-handedness, Anwar's supporters got into a fight with the police and several were arrested.
"Police had unlawfully disrupted this ceramah just as Anwar was speaking, made several unlawful arrests and assaulted the Gombak MP and PKR deputy president Azmin Ali," said Surendran.
"This new investigation on Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim is politically motivated, in bad faith and a blatant abuse of police powers. We ask that this baseless investigation be ended immediately and all those responsible for instituting it be brought to justice for abuse of power, no mattter how high or powerful they may be. "
So far, Azmin who is also the Gombak MP, Hulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungib and Batu Caves assemblyman Amiruddin Shaari have been hauled up and had their statements taken on Wednesday.
On Sunday night, some 20 to 30 police swooped down and surrounded Azmin's home just to serve the Notice 111 on him. The PKR No. 2 has given the police 48 hours to apologize failing which he will sue them for intimidation and wrongful conduct.
"The gathering was peaceful and organised but it became chaotic when the police started to come in and provoked the peaceful function," insisted Azmin.
Royal Commission of Inquiry
Meanwhile, Surendran call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into police abuse of power to be formed.
"We note that the BN continues in its immoral and unlawful quest to undermine the rule of law and turn this nation into a police state. It is clear that they are prepared to use every underhand and unlawful means to perpetuate their grip on the country and to stay in power indefinitely," he said.
"In our parliamentary democracy, it is the constitutionally protected role of the Opposition Leader to scrutinize, check and criticize government policies and actions. Abusing and manipulating state powers to target, harass and intimidate the Opposition Leader is nothing short of an attack on our democratic system.
"We also ask that a Royal Commission be formed for the purpose of inquiring into the decades long abuse of police and prosecutorial powers by the Barisan Nasional in order to attack, discredit, criminalize and imprison the political opposition,civil society activists and others who have been critical of the government."
- Malaysia Chronicle
VIDEO Najib-Rosmah dare not face us
VIDEO Police storm stage 13 minutes into Anwar's speech
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