It was just a suggestion, says Tian Chua

(The Star) – PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s call to boycott the opening of the 13th Parliament is only a suggestion, said party vice-president Tian Chua.

He said no official decision had been made on the matter.

“The boycott plan, along with plans for more rallies, will depend on the Election Commission members taking responsibility for the alleged fraud during the general election.

“We still have two weeks before the swearing-in on June 24 and we hope that the EC members will resign before that,” he said in an interview here yesterday.

Tian Chua said should the EC members resign, then “things would proceed as normal”.

“Otherwise we will consider other means of action,” he said.

MPs from the party, he said, were only planning to boycott the Parliament swearing-in as a protest, adding that this had yet to be confirmed.

Tian Chua, who is also Batu MP, was responding to a report in The Star that both DAP and PAS had snubbed PKR’s suggestion to boycott the opening of the Parliament.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke had been quoted as saying that the party had no plans to boycott Parliament while PAS deputy ulama chief Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed indicated that such a move would be like snubbing the rakyat who had elected the MPs.

Asked to elaborate on PKR’s “other means of action”, Tian Chua declined, merely saying that it would not be participating in the EC’s newest delineation exercise.

“Neither will we take part in proposals for special parliamentary committees to be set up to oversee the EC and the MACC,” he said.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders had held several “Black 505” rallies to protest the elections results.