DAP rejects street protests to topple BN

DAP chairman Karpal Singh says such protests, as proposed by Haris Ibrahim, could turn unruly if not handled properly. 

G Vinod, FMT

DAP chairman Karpal Singh today rebuked activist Haris Ibrahim for calling for street protests to topple the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

Speaking at a press conference today, Karpal said that he could not accept the call for street protests despite agreeing that the recent general election was marred with irregularities.

“I agree there were fraud during the general election but we must address this using the court process,” he said.

Yesterday, Haris was reported as saying that pro-Pakatan Rakyat NGO’s would topple the federal government through massive street rallies.

He said that the people could not wait for another five years to dislodge BN as democracy is not working in Malaysia.

However, Haris qualified his statement by saying that he was not talking about violent street protests against BN.

Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, said that his party is against street protests to topple a government.

Although he commended Haris for opposing violent demonstrations, Karpal warned that a street protest may cause unrest if it was not handled properly.

“I know Haris is a good man. Probably he got carried away by anger on the fact that Najib (Tun Razak) is leading a minority government,” he said.

Karpal also commended PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim for holding indoor rallies to create awareness among the masses on the electoral fraud that transpired during the general election.

“What Anwar doing is understandable and the police should cooperate by providing security to the participants, not like what happened in the Kelana Jaya rally where there were no police presence at all,” he said.