Anwar says no street protest, but insists on more rallies
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid
PETALING JAYA, May 15 ― Pakatan Rakyat (PR) today distanced itself from calls for street protests to overturn the results of Election 2013, with Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim saying the pact will stick to indoor rallies to “voice their disgust” at alleged electoral fraud in the May 5 polls.
Anwar said calls for a mass street protest to oust the elected Barisan Nasional (BN) administration did not originate from PR but from affiliated non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“These are just suggestions and it was never raised to the leadership and it is not something that is adopted by leadership,” he told a press conference after chairing a PR presidential council meeting here.
Several activists were reported suggesting mass street protests to remove BN from power, alleging that the coalition had won Election 2013 fraudulently.
Among them was Hishammuddin Rais, a steering committee member of poll reforms group Bersih.
The left-leaning leader was reported to have told a forum on Monday that street demonstrations was the best recourse to affect a change in government, claiming that attempts to challenge the election results through legal channels would be futile.
PR has repeatedly alleged that Election 2013 was marred with widespread electoral fraud.
Anything But Umno (ABU) coordinator, Harris Ibrahim had also echoed the view. Online news portal Free Malaysia Today had quoted him as saying that voters should topple the BN government through street rallies.
PR has repeatedly alleged that Election 2013 was marred with widespread electoral fraud.
The Malaysian Insider had earlier reported that PR leaders have admitted that their post-Election 2013 public rallies, despite their mammoth following, will soon run out of steam and was unlikely to change the outcome of the just-concluded polls.
Amid incessant cries for re-election, newly-elected PR lawmakers said the events were merely to keep the momentum going for the federal opposition pact and to serve as a reminder to Malaysians that a majority 51 per cent of the electorate had voted out Barisan Nasional (BN) even though the pact returned to power.
They agreed that theirs was a losing battle as the odds were stacked against them, despite acknowledging the existence of legal avenues to challenge results in certain constituencies where they believe they have sufficient evidence of fraud.
But while most insist the rallies are necessary, a silent few in PR have agreed that it is time to move on and admit defeat before Malaysians begin to regard their leaders as “sore losers”.
Anwar, however, insisted that the rallies are necessary as an avenue for the voters to voice their protest against the rigged results.
“We must allow the people to voice their disgust,” he said.
PR lost its bid for Putrajaya in the May 5 polls last week, polling 89 seats to BN’s 133, but picked up seven seats more than it did in Election 2008.
The federal opposition pact had cried foul when the overall results failed to reflect the popular vote trend, which saw PR polling 51 per cent to BN’s 48 per cent, an outcome they blamed on gerrymandering and vote-rigging by their political foes.
Anwar immediately put his earlier retirement plans on hold to protest the election results, leading his team to hold a series of mammoth nationwide rallies to prove a majority of the Malaysian electorate support them.
After commanding large crowds in Petaling Jaya and Penang, PR held its third rally in Ipoh, Perak, last weekend, where Anwar vowed never to surrender until the polls results are validated and PR claims its rightful place at Putrajaya.
