A group of retired army officers is mulling a counter rally if there are political elements in the Armed Forces Veterans Association's (PVTAM) plan to hold a large-scale gathering in July.
At a press conference attended by some 100 army veterans in Kuala Lumpur today, retired brigadier-general Mohd Arshad Raji said the group has no qualms if PVTAM organises an apolitical gathering.
"But we are objecting to a rally that has political elements as this would violate the Veterans Act 2012, which spells out that PVATM should not be a political association," he said.
If it is confirmed that the July gathering has political elements, Mohd Arshad said the group would consider holding a counter rally.
"If he (PVTAM president Mohd Anwar Mohd Nor) thinks he can mobilise 100,000 veterans to attend the rally, I can also get 100,000 (to attend the counter rally). It is not a problem," he added.
He believed that the gathering is held to announce good news to the veterans as claimed by deputy defence minister Mohd Johari Baharum lately.
Even so, Mohd Arshad said Mohd Anwar should announce the goodies himself.
"With Mohd Anwar announcing the good news, definitely PVATM will be seen as apolitical and the president himself will be regarded as someone free of political influence," he said.
He also reminded a similar mammoth gathering was held on Oct 10, 2010, where the leader brought good news to the veteran.
"We urge that PVATM to recall the speech of the leader and determine if the rally was political (in nature) or it was meant to bring good news for the veterans.
"If that was indeed a good news, then (PVATM needs) to examine if these good news have been realised," he said without naming the leader.
However, a check from the news portal found that Najib had attended the event held at Bukit Jalil seven years ago.
Mohd Arshad had previously written a letter to the PVATM boss to express concern that the large-scale gathering would have a political agenda to influence the veterans to support the current administration.
Mohd Anwar was said to have announced the July gathering at a meeting held together with several veteran NGOs on Feb 11.
The country currently has more than 100 veteran NGOs.- Mkini
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