(video ehsan malaysiakini)

(video ehsan malaysiakini)

(video ehsan malaysiakini)

(foto ehsan The Associated Press)

From The Associated Press
By JULIA ZAPPEI – 3 hours ago

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Riot police charged demonstrators with batons and fired tear gas Saturday to disperse thousands of people marching in Malaysia’s largest city to protest a law that allows indefinite detention without trial.

People began massing at Kuala Lumpur’s main mosque, a shopping mall and a train station Saturday morning in defiance of government warnings that police would crack down on demonstrators, who are pushing leaders to scrap the Internal Security Act, which allows the imprisonment of people regarded as security threats. Police said many thousands had taken to the streets, with some news Web sites putting the count as high as 20,000.

Police fired tear gas and chemical-laced water to disperse the crowds shortly after they began marching toward the national palace. The protesters — who chanted “Reformasi,” the opposition’s slogan for political change — had planned to submit a petition to the country’s king, the constitutional monarch, to denounce the security act.

Witnesses said police wielding batons charged the protesters and scuffled with them. Many people ran into alleys and shops nearby to avoid being arrested.

“The police are really brutal,” opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim told reporters at the protest. “This clearly shows (the government’s) intolerance to any dissent. … We gather here today to fight a cruel law.”

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From Wall Street Journal

By CELINE FERNANDEZ and JAMES HOOKWAY

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian riot police fired tear gas and water cannons Saturday in clashes with several thousand anti-government demonstrators who gathered to protest a long-standing law allowing detention without trial, raising the stakes in a long-running struggle for political power in the country.

The law – known as the Internal Security Act – enables Malaysian authorities to detain indefinitely persons they consider to be security risks. In the past, al-Qaeda linked terrorists have been held under the provision. But opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and human rights activists say the law is also used to stifle dissent in Malaysia, where the National Front coalition has ruled the country without interruption since independence from Britain in 1957.

Last year, the law was used to detain a blogger, a journalist and members of a Hindu rights activist group.

As many as 10,000 protesters converged in the center of Malaysia’s main city just after 2 pm on Saturday, and began marching toward the national palace where they intended to hand in a petition to the country’s constitutional monarch to appeal the security law. Chants of “Reformasi” – the Malaysian term for political reform – echoed around the narrow streets in downtown Kuala Lumpur as police fired tear gas and chemical-laced water to break up the protesters.

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Pagi ini saya dikejutkan dengan berita sedih, apabila diberitahu akan pemergian mantan Presiden Filipina, Corazon Aquino, akibat dari kanser kolon yang dihidapinya.

Beliau merupakan ikon kebangkitan rakyat Filipina menentang pemerintahan kuku besi Marcos, tertonjol sebagai tokoh utama setelah suaminya, Senator Aquino ditembak mati di lapangan terbang Manila. Selaku Presiden beliau menyalakan obor demokrasi dan membatalkan undang-undang zalim yang menindas rakyat.

Cory merupakan sahabat lama yang senantiasa memberikan sokongan padu buat saya dan Azizah. Tatkala dihumban ke dalam penjara, beliau secara terbuka memberi dokongan kepada Azizah dan keluarga serta perjuangan menegakkan keadilan di Malaysia.

Saya dan Azizah serta bagi pihak Parti Keadilan Rakyat merakamkan ucapan takziah buat keluarga beliau di atas permergian Cory Aquino.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

Saya dikunjungi sarjana Islam asal Amerika Syarikat pagi tadi, yang namanya sedang meniti dibibir umat, manakala tulisan serta pandangan beliau mulai diberi perhatian serius oleh institusi pengajian tersohor. Profesor Sherman Jackson, menampilkan sosok pemikir Islam yang tidak silu untuk mengaku dirinya sebagai warga negara Uncle Sam berleluhur Afrika, di samping teguh berpegang kuat kepada prinsip-prinsip akidah, syariat dan memperkasa umat.

Ternyata segar mendengar pandangan beliau yang berhasrat umat Islam memberi perhatian serius terhadap persoalan ketelusan, pertanggungjawaban, tadbir urus serta perlaksanaan keadilan. Sebarang dasar yang dilakarkan mestilah bertunjangkan prinsip keadilan untuk semua.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

Saya menerima perkhabaran mengejutkan pagi ini mengenai pemergian sahabat lama semenjak dari tahun 70an lagi, ADUN PAS Permatang Pasir, Datuk Hj Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman ke rahmatuLlah. Dimaklumkan Allahyarham menghembuskan nafas terakhir pada jam 6.30 pagi. Azizah sempat ke IJN menziarahi jenazah dan saya kini dalam perjalanan ke Permatang Pasir.

Kami sedia maklum akan keuzuran Allahyarham sebelum ini, pun begitu Allahyarham begitu komited dan istiqamah dalam menjalankan tanggungjawab sebagai ADUN. Memenangi kerusi DUN Permatang Pasir sebermula tahun 1999 tatkala arus reformasi bermula, Allahyarham terus mengekalkan kerusi tersebut dalam PRU 2004 dan PRU 2008. Biarpun dihenyak oleh Umno-BN dengan pelbagai dakyah, Allahyarham terus menjalankan amanah dengan begitu baik dan terus menerima sokongan rakyat setempat tanpa henti. Menjadi tunjang kepada Barisan Alternatif dan Pakatan Rakyat khususnya muafakat PAS-KEADILAN di Pulau Pinang, Allahyarham sangat dikenali dengan sikapnya yang ramah dan menyenangkan pengundi.

Saya, Azizah dan seluruh warga KEADILAN merakamkan ucapan takziah buat keluarga Allahyarham dan mendoakan agar roh Allahyarham dicucuri rahmat dan ditempatkan di kalangan para shalehin.
Al fatihah.

ANWAR IBRAHIM