Power shouldn't 'come from barrel of the gun'
Terence Netto
Sep 11, 07 10:19am
Malaysiakini.com
PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim expressed "deep concern" over the "new
heights of police harassment" that he said led to the incident in Kuala
Terengganu on Saturday in which two people suffered gunshot wounds.
"It was supposed to be a normal gathering organised by Bersih, of the sort that
one can expect in the lead-up to the general elections," said Anwar.
Bersih is the non-governmental organisation concerned with ensuring the
cleanliness and integrity of the electoral process in Malaysia. Guests speakers
at the Bersih-organised gathering at Pantai Batu Buruk in Kuala Terengganu last
Saturday night were Mohamed Sabu from PAS and Khalid Ibrahim of PKR.
Anwar said his understanding of events leading to the crowd disturbances at
Batu Buruk prompted him to fault "some quarters who realised that the gathering
would be a large one and so decided to exert pressure such that the police
would move to stop the ceramah."
A crowd of 500 had gathered at the venue for the Bersih-organised ceramah when
police intervened and ordered the crowd to disperse.
Disturbances ensued in which tear gas and water cannon were used and gunshots
rang out. Two people were later treated for wounds consistent with the
discharge of gunfire. The police said that one of them fired in self-defence on
being attacked by a group of angry men.
Anwar said: "People will suspect that something manipulative is at work when
permits for gatherings by bodies favoured by the powers-that-be are applied for
and obtained with ease."
He said the use of water cannon and tear gas by the police in the Batu Buruk
incident was evidence of "new heights in police harassment towards gatherings
considered unfavourable to the government."
Anwar's advice to the opposition
Anwar cautioned that political power "does not flow out of the barrel of a
gun."
"The discharge of gunshots in the incident suggested that police harassment has
reached new heights. This is cause for grave concern.
"Public order and security are as much the effect of rational considerations by
the enforcement authority as they are of public restraint and good behaviour
under conditions of democratic governance," said Anwar.
He also had a word of caution for supporters of the opposition.
"Beware of the presence of agent provocateurs whose aim is to provoke you into
responding in the way that would justify the premeditated repression of the
authorities," he said.
"I know this exacts from you a level of awareness and restraint that surpasses
the normal but we are living in a time where the authorities alternate between
crude and subtle forms of repression.
"It is imperative that we be streetwise."
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/72231
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