Home minister ‘cooking up’ laws

Lim Kit Siang also diagnoses the BN government of suffering from Xantophobia, an irrational fear of the colour of yellow.

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition MPs today criticised Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein for acting outside the law in banning the yellow Bersih 2.0 T-shirts and questioned the legal basis for the Bersih-related clampdown.”We have a minister who is making the law on the run without parliamentary sanction,” said DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang, adding that even Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar’s warning that any paraphernalia related to Bersih as illegal was deplorable.

During a press conference in Parliament, the Ipoh Timur MP said that such interpretation of the law coming from the home minister who had a legal background was disappointing.

He added that the opposition MPs, who had elements of yellow in their attire, were protesting the clampdown by the authorities and to show support for a peaceful Bersih demonstration on July 9.

Lim also declared that the government was suffering from Xanthophobia, the irrational fear of the colour yellow.

“We are only waiting for the IGP to announce that the colour yellow is illegal,” he said, drawing laughter from those present.

Karpal warns of legal action

DAP chairman Karpal Singh said the police and authorities would have to answer for their actions of intimidation in court.

“The police must be able to answer for whatever they are doing in court. There is no doubt in my mind that whatever they are doing is not supported by law,” he said.

“We intend to take action in court. This should be a warning to authorities concerned to cease and decease (their intimidating) actions,” said the Bukit Gelugor MP.

He singled out the case of the 14 people who were arrested yesterday in Sungai Siput, including DAP-Jalong assemblywoman Leong Mee Meng and PKR-Teja assemblyman Chang Lih Kang.

A Chinese daily reported that eight of them were made to take off the Bersih T-shirt they were wearing.

Karpal, a renowned lawyer, warned that the police cannot go scott-free after causing such humiliation.

PKR leader R Sivarasa said that only certain clothing could be declared illegal, that too after undergoing a process of being gazetted as illegal.

“In this case, we all know that it was not gazetted. Hishammuddin is making decisions outside the law,” said the Subang MP and lawyer.

Yellow fever in Parliament

Meanwhile, Pakatan MPs showed up in Parliament wearing yellow to pledge their support for Bersih.

Male MPs were spotted with specially ordered yellow ties with the words “Bersih 2.0″ printed at the bottom while their female counterparts came in all-yellow outfits.

Two MPs – Mohamed Nizar Jamaluddin (PAS- Bukit Gantang) and Er Teck Hwa (DAP- Bakri) – were seen wearing the Bersih T-shirt which had been outlawed by the Home Ministry.

Hishamuddin yesterday declared that the yellow Bersih T-shirt was illegal as it was associated with illegal activities.