No compromise with opposition on street protests, says Zahid
Boo Su-Lyn, TMI
Putrajaya will not compromise but will take stern action against Pakatan Rakyat (PR) if it foments chaos on the streets, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia reported Ahmad Zahid today as saying that prevention was better than cure, after tens of thousands of Malaysians thronged six PR rallies across the country to protest against alleged vote-rigging in Election 2013.
“I will not give warning, but just wait for stern action,” Ahmad Zahid (picture) was quoted as saying by the Malay-language daily.
The Malay broadsheet’s front page today was
headlined “KDN: Tiada kompromi (KDN: No compromise)” and the newly-minted home minister was quoted as saying: “Prevention is better than cure, and the price of early prevention is cheaper than solving problems after.”
More than 100 people were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1987 in an operation dubbed Ops Lalang that was carried out amid rising political tensions, the second-largest ISA swoop in Malaysian history since the May 13, 1969 race riots.
But the ISA, which allows for detention without trial, was abolished in 2012 and replaced with the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) that removes the government’s option to detain without trial.
Human rights activists, however, have criticised the new law for giving the government broad powers to deem any form of opposition a threat and to prosecute them.
Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has rallied against the legitimacy of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, saying that the May 5 general election was tainted with electoral fraud.
BN won just 133 federal seats, ceding an additional seven seats to PR, and lost the popular vote for the first time since 1969 when it contested as the Alliance party then.
Ahmad Zahid wrote in Utusan Malaysia last Thursday that Malaysians who were unhappy with the country’s first-past-the-post voting system should migrate to other countries that had different voting systems.
