Malaysiakini

Majlis Peguam akan mengadakan mesyuarat agung luar biasa (EGM) untuk membincangkan isu-isu berkaitan dengan perhimpunan BERSIH 3.0 Sabtu lalu.

Menurut surat pekeliling rasmi yang disiarkan di lamanwebnya, EGM itu akan diadakan Jumaat depan di sebuah hotel di Kuala Lumpur.

Agendanya ialah membincangkan usul Pengerusi Majlis Peguam, Lim
Chee Wee berhubung dengan peristiwa dan sekitar perhimpunan awam pada 28 April 2012 anjuran BERSIH 3.0, dan perkara-perkara yang berkaitan dengannya.

Tiada maklumat lanjut dinyatakan dalam pekeliling tersebut.

EGM itu memerlukan kuorum 500 orang.

Majlis Peguam telah menugaskan pasukan pemantauan 78 anggota semasa perhimpunan tersebut dan kemudiannya mengeluarkan laporan interim pada hari Selasa.

I refer to the publication of fake images and false allegations of an extra-marital liaison in the media and blogs against PKR Deputy President Azmin Ali. The allegations and photographs are fabricated, politically motivated and the lowest kind of gutter journalism. As usual, the photos have been widely published in the BN owned media and pro-UMNO blogs. Utusan Malaysia published the images in a particularly vicious and calculated manner. Images of a pornographic nature implicating the Gombak MP were splashed on the front pages of Utusan Malaysia on 2.5.12. We hold Prime Minister and President of Umno Najib Tun Razak personally responsible for the publication of the photos. It is impossible that character assasination of this scale could be carried out by Utusan Malaysia without the approval and knowledge of Najib, whose UMNO ruling party owns Utusan Malaysia.

Today, Azmin Ali has through his solicitors Messrs Edwin Lim Suren & Soh issued a letter of demand to Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad which owns Utusan Malaysia and its Editor demanding a withdrawal of the allegations and a public apology to be published in the front page of Utusan Malaysia. In view of the seriousness of the alllegations and the nationwide circulation of the newspaper, Azmin Ali has demanded the sum of RM 100 million in damages. Azmin Ali has commenced these legal proceedings to vindicate his name and reputation as a national leader and politician, and to defend the right of the public to fair and clean journalism.

Issued by,
N SURENDRAN
VICE PRESIDENT
KEADILAN

Bersempena dengan pasca perhimpunan Bersih 3.0 minggu lalu dan Hari Kebebasan Akhbar  pada 5 Mei ini,  Akademi Pak Sako dengan kerjasama laman portal JalanTelawi.com akan menganjurkan forum khas yang bertemakan Bersih 3.0: Keganasan Polis dan Media ‘Blackout’. Butiran program adalah seperti berikut:

Tarikh             : 3 Mei 2012

Masa                 : 8.30 malam – 10.30 malam

Tempat           : Dewan Perhimpunan Cina Kuala Lumpur – Selangor (KLSCAH)

Ahli panel       :

                         1. Hishamuddin Rais (Aktivis BERSIH / blogger TukarTiub)

                        2. Fathi Aris Omar (Editor laman berita Malaysiakini.com)

                        3. Dr. Aziz Bari (Pakar Perlembagaan)

                        4. Latheefa Koya (Peguam hak asasi manusia, Lawyers for Liberty)

                        5. Haziq Abdul Aziz (Aktivis mahasiswa, KAMI)

                        6. Haijan Omar (peguam yang dibelasah sewaktu himpunan Bersih 3.0)

Sehubungan dengan itu, pihak kami menjemput dan mengalu-alukan kehadiran saudara/saudari ke majlis ini serta memohon kerjasama saudara/saudari untuk memajukan jemputan ini seluasnya.

Malaysiakini

The Selangor government leadership has joined several journalism organisations to condemn the police brutality on journalists during the Bersih 3.0 rally by donning yellow wristbands today.

MB Khalid Ibrahim, senior exco member Teresa Kok, and exco members Ean Yong Hian Wah and Yaakob Sapari, who were at a state government press conference today, donned yellow wristbands at the request of the journalists present.

The members of the press were cutting bands from yellow fabric prior to the press conference and distributing them to colleagues from all media outlets.

“Tomorrow is World Press Freedom Day. We will wear black and tie yellow wristbands to show our solidarity with the assaulted journalists,” said the Selangor Times journalist who promoted the initiative.

Commenting on the police brutality, Khalid said he felt sorry for the journalists but could not agree with the assaults.

He said it is high time for all segments of society to come together “to invoke changes”.

“You (journalists) add value to the knowledge of the society, so that they can make better decisions.

“Without a free press, there would not be an informed society,” he said.

Meanwhile, Khalid denied claims that schools in Selangor are teaching the students to go against the BN-led federal government.

“We can’t even enter schools, how do you think we can issue such a directive?” he said.

He also denied a report in Utusan Malaysia that mosque committee elections in Selangor were tainted with phantom voters to ensure the victory of Pakatan-favoured candidates.

Malaysiakini

COMMENT It is sad that despite the success of the Bersih 3.0 rally, the government’s media have successfully managed to distract some of us from the larger issue which is the demand for electoral reforms.

Many of Bersih’s own supporters, even those who took part in the rally of April 28, have been busy accusing fellow participants of breaking the law and indulging in violence. Some commentators cite the storming of the barbed wire barricade at Dataran Merdeka as the reason why the police shifted their position from “token resistance” back to their old ways.

Others were more crass, calling those who stormed the barricade as “hooligans” who took the law into their own hands despite the court order banning the crowd being inside the square. These so-called law abiding citizens of course do not ask questions like “which law?” or “whose courts?”

Then there are of course others who treat the rally as simply a parade, and that being peaceful means abiding by even the unfair laws symbolised by the barbed wires. Some are clearly been under the illusion that Bersih 3.0 was our answer to the Rio carnival.

Their political loyalty is only laid bare upon reading their ‘eyewitness’ reports taking pains to point out that majority of rally goers were not opposition supporters. In their inability to overcome their inborn allergy of opposition parties such as PAS and PKR, they even make the claim that shouts of ‘reformasi’ were not entertained by the crowd.

One eyewitness, none other than the daughter of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, even points out that no political leader in the country could have mobilised something as big as Bersih. (Gentle reminder: 14 years ago, 100,000 people gathered at the same spot in support of a certain individual that her father despises.)

The truth is that shouts of ‘reformasi’ and ‘Hancur Najib’ were reverberating in liberal doses on that day. Anyone who was there would tell you that slogans against Barisan Nasional had echoed with the same fury and spirited volume as the “non-partisan” shouts of “Bersih” or “Hidup Rakyat”, and spiralled later into the LRT coaches and nearby restaurants.

Those who claim otherwise could be living in their smart sound-proofed walls of wishful thinking, selectively erasing out words they couldn’t stomach.

Clamour for reform takes on a life of its own

Whatever the instructions given by Bersih leaders, the fact is that the clamour for electoral reforms has taken on a life of its own. It is therefore naive to expect that the tens of thousands of people who went there should not storm the barricade, having been told to be as close as possible to Dataran Merdeka.

A video clip going around on the Internet purportedly shows PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim giving the green light to his deputy president Azmin Ali (arrow) to open the barricades blocking Dataran Merdeka.

This clip is then used by some to condemn Anwar as the cause of the police brutality that followed.

I for one have never vehemently come to Anwar’s defence other than my profound sympathy for the vile allegations that he and family have been made to endure. But if Anwar had indeed called for the barricades to be torn down, I really don’t mind putting a photograph of him as my desktop wallpaper!

The truth is that we all went there to break the law. A law devoid of fair play and justice, a law which is enforced to the detriment of ordinary citizens. The barricades blocking our march into Dataran Merdeka are the clearest and most tangible symbol of the government’s animosity to the ordinary public. It would be foolish to be there and not dismantle them.

We did not go there to merely shout and punch the air. We probably did so last year, singing in the rain at the gates of Stadium Merdeka.

This time, it is serious business. There is no time to waste. We are talking about tens of thousands of dubious names in the electoral roll, new voters whose citizenship are suspicious, the continued Big Brother mentality of our tax-funded television channels, and many more.

The peoples of Tunisia and Egypt would not have celebrated the downfalls of their tyrants had they followed the law and stayed outside the perimeters of the heavily fortified Tahrir Square. History is full of examples that for change to happen, removing police barricades is a norm, indeed the act has become a main ingredient of peaceful protests to claim back public places and venues denied to them.

It does not justify any high handedness by the security forces. History is replete with such examples. Change could not have happened if Iranians had obeyed the law against demonstrations during the Shah’s tyranny in 1979, or if the Berlin Wall had not been vandalised in 1989, or if Gandhi had not picked up salt during his 240-mile Salt March in 1930, or if Rosa Parks had not stuck her butt in a bus seat in Alabama in 1955.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders should not pay attention to the constant focus by the police and the Umno media on the storming of the barricade, as if the act were a grave threat against public safety.

This is no time to defend from accusations of violence and vandalism. People were angry, they want reforms. More importantly, they want them now. There is no need to waste time claiming ‘agents provocateurs’ amongst the crowd.

Playing into the hands of propaganda  

I find nothing wrong in what some protesters did at Dataran, and simply accusing them of being ‘agents provocateurs’ is not only cliched but also plays into the hands of propaganda. There is no use compiling evidence to back claims of police brutality.

Now is not the time to seek an apology for the treatment meted out on protesters, but an apology over the way institutions of democracy have been raped and systematically undermined. After all, it is why we braved the tear gas, defied police warnings, and by the same logic, stormed the barricades at Dataran Merdeka.

The April 28 rally is not a tea party or simply a ‘walk’ as some who participated in it would like to think. Those who feel we should not have stormed the barricades at Dataran might as well stay home clicking at the ‘like’ button of anti-government Facebook pages, or disappear into some obscure stadium as suggested by the Kuala Lumpur mayor, in keeping with the stand that DAP vice-chairperson Tunku Aziz Tunku Ibrahim has taken.

My only regret was that I was not part of the crowd who tore down the barricades. I was suffering from a tear gas attack near Masjid Jamek, with the multiracial ‘hooligans’-cum-‘pharmacists’ coming to my help offering toothpaste, salt and water, before charging towards a police force that is armed to the teeth and trained to injure.

To those who fail to understand why we defied the law that day, I have this to say: “Kalau takut dengan risiko, jangan bicara soal perjuangan”. Pull aside, chew the gum of defeat and watch the show. That will be better than accusing those who risked personal safety to hammer in the urgency of reforms. To paraphrase a verse from the Qur’an, not equal are those who stay home and those who strive hard with their wealth and their lives.

An international fact-finding mission on the Malaysian election also notes that the mainstream media is biased.

“We don’t care who wins. I am not a Malaysian,” Fernandes said.

Alhamdulilah, perhimpunan aman untuk menuntut pilihanraya yang bersih dan adil disertai puluhan ribu rakyat Malaysia. Perhimpunan aman BERSIH bukan sahaja berjaya dilaksanakan di Dataran Merdeka, bahkan di seluruh negara dan bandar-bandar utama seluruh dunia. Rakyat Malaysia, tidak mengira ras dan keyakinan hadir dengan semangat berkobar-kobar demi menyatakan pendirian mereka bahawa pilianraya yang bersih serta adil merupakan salah satu tunjang amalan demokrasi di negara ini.

Saya mengucapkan syabas kepada Jawatankuasa BERSIH yang tuntas iltizamnya mahu menuntut satu reformasi pilihanraya yang menyeluruh. Tahniah juga kepada seluruh rakyat Malaysia yang hadir memberi sokongan. Adalah dimaklumkan ada kemalangan membabitkan peserta perhimpunan aman petang tadi. Saya menggesa agar siasatan yang bebas dan menyeluruh diadakan bagi menyiasat punca serta pihak yang bertanggungjawab. Saya juga menyeru mereka yang menyertai perhimpunan aman ini agar segera bersurai kerana pimpinan BERSIH sudahpun mengeluarkan arahan untuk bersurai.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

The 6-person mission from six countries after their 4 days of consulting members from both government and opposition, the Bersih organisers, the Election Commission and attending today’s Bersih sit-in protest, will meet the press to present their preliminary findings.

Details of PC:

DATE/TIME: APRIL 29, 2012 at 1PM
VENUE: ORCHID ROOM, LEVEL TWO, INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL (The former Nikko Hotel), JALAN AMPANG, KUALA LUMPUR

Indonesia’s Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) has claimed that Indonesians recently shot dead by Malaysian police have had their organs removed. This matter is receiving wide media coverage in their country.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat strongly condemns these acts if they are found to be true and calls for an immediate independent investigation into both the circumstances of the shootings and determine if any organ has been removed from the dead men.

The police have been implicated, therefore only an independent investigation will clear them and manage public perception. 

Immediate so as to stem any negative news building-up against our country in Indonesia, the good name of Malaysia and its police have to be protected.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat is prepared to work with the Indonesian Embassy, including legal assistance, to seek the facts of behind these deaths and if the bodies have been handled inappropriately.

Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Opposition Leader, Malaysian Parliament

Kenyataan Media
27 April 2012
 
Badan Nasional Penempatan dan Perlindungan Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (BNP2TKI) mendakwa organ tubuh tiga warga Indonesia yang ditembak mati baru baru ini didapati hilang. Isu ini mendapat liputan meluas dari media Indonesia.

Sekiranya dakwaan ini benar, kami mengecam perbuatan jelek ini serta menggesa agar satu siasatan bebas dijalankan untuk menyiasat dakwaan berkaitan insiden kematian tiga warga Indonesia tersebut serta samada organ dalaman dikeluarkan dari tubuh mereka. Oleh kerana polis didakwa terlibat makanya hanya satu siasatan yang bebas akan menjernihkan nama baik dan persepsi umum terhadap pihak Polis.

Manakala demi memastikan hubungan baik rakyat Malaysia-Indonesia, serta nama baik Pasukan Polis, Parti Keadilan Rakyat bersedia menawarkan bantuan guaman dan bersedia bekerjasama dengan Kedutaan Indonesia di Malaysia bagi menemui kebenaran di sebalik kematian tiga warga Indonesia tersebut dan samada mayat mereka diuruskan secara tidak bertanggungjawab. 
 
Anwar Ibrahim
Ketua Pembangkang
Dewan Rakyat Malaysia

Harakah

KUALA LUMPUR: Penganjur perhimpunan Bersih 3.0 memaklumkan enam lokasi awal sebelum peserta menuju ke Dataran Merdeka, 28 April ini.

Ahli Jawatankuasa Pemandu Bersih 3.0, Maria Chin Abdullah berkata enam lokasi tersebut terdiri daripada Pasar Seni, Masjid Negara, KLCC, Brickfields, Jalan Sultan dan Masjid India.

Keenam-enam lokasi itu, katanya merupakan lokasi awal sebelum para peserta berkumpul di Dataran Merdeka pada himpunan Duduk Bantah itu.

Beliau berkata demikian kepada Harakahdaily, hari ini.

Maria menambah, perancangan awal jawatankuasa itu menetapkan Dataran Merdeka sebagai lokasi Duduk Bantah, dan tidak akan menukar lokasinya walaupun dihalang pihak Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL).

Sebelum ini, DBKL berkali-kali mengeluarkan kenyataan melarang dan akan mengambil tindakan terhadap mana-mana pihak yang melanggar larangan tersebut.

Sementara itu, tinjauan Harakahdaily mendapati DBKL mula menutup persekitaran Dataran Merdeka dengan meletakkan pagar besi dan penghadang, pada jam empat pagi tadi.