KUALA LUMPUR: A Pakatan Harapan MP has urged the authorities to allow Perikatan Nasional’s youth wing to hold its “Selamatkan Malaysia” rally in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday.
Syahredzan Johan (PH-Bangi) maintained that while he does not support the rally, the police should still let the rally proceed.
“We (PH) have been championing the right to assemble peacefully for a long time,” the DAP MP said while debating the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) mid-term review in the Dewan Rakyat.
“As long as the rally goes on peacefully, the authorities should allow it. I do not want us (PH) to forget that we also took to the streets over our struggles.”
PN Youth had announced that it will be holding its rally this Saturday, which is Malaysia Day, to protest against the conditional discharge given to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in his Yayasan Akalbudi corruption case.
The police have since said they did not receive any application for a permit for the rally, while home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said holding the gathering on Sept 16 was akin to disrespecting the Malaysia Day celebrations.
While PN Youth had initially planned to have the rally outside the Sogo shopping mall in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur, its chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari was reported to have said that they were open to changing the location of its rally to Bukit Bintang.
He even called upon the government to “facilitate” the rally plan and promised that the rally would be conducted peacefully and in compliance with the relevant laws.
“The youth are requesting to gather this Saturday. The government should facilitate it. There won’t be many of us. Even if there are 10,000 of us, it is still not enough to ‘shake the government’,” the Pasir Mas MP said in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday.
Source : FMT
