Pakatan steers clear of Haris’ demo plan
Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar says they do not condone overthrowing government through street demonstrations.
Lisa J. Ariffin, FMT
Pakatan Rakyat today said the coalition does not condone overthrowing ruling Barisan Nasional through mass street demonstrations.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was responding to activist Haris Ibrahim’s statement that pro-Pakatan Rakyat NGOs would topple the federal government through massive street rallies.
“The proposal has never been submitted to us, it has never been discussed by Pakatan. Those are the views of some NGOs,” Anwar told a press conference here after a meeting involving Pakatan leaders.
He however did not fully disregard the idea of street demonstrations. Anwar maintained that street demonstrations should be held in a peaceful and orderly manner.
“We will confine purely to peaceful rallies at designated places.
“But we do not say no to peaceful rallies, we must let the people express their disgust at Umno-BN for stealing the election,” he added.
On Monday, pro-Pakatan Rakyat groups vowed to overthrow the BN government within the year through a massive street rally.
Speakers at a forum unanimously agreed that waiting for five years until the next general election was too long, and vowed to overthrow BN this year through “force”.
PKR vice-president and Batu MP Tian Chua had also thrown support behind their cry to overthrow BN through force, and said it was the people’s choice.
“The decision to wait another five years or fight is not the right of Pakatan leaders, the results during the polls were not of Pakatan… but the rakyat’s,” he said.
However, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution has since said Tian’s backing for the street rally was a personal stand and not reflective of Pakatan’s stand.
“The official decision must come from the top Pakatan leadership, not only theirs (Tian Chua),” he added.
