SUNGAI PETANI, March 23 — Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) forces fired tear gas and used water cannons tonight on thousands gathered at a ceramah in Bukit Selambau just as Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was beginning his speech.
The FRU engaged the crowd at about 10pm and the opposition leader and other Pakatan Rakyat leaders are holed up in the building where the ceramah was being held as of 10.45pm.
According to PKR’s Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, those arrested include fellow party member Zamri Yusuf who is a Senator from Kedah and Anwar’s chief of staff Ibrahim Yaacob.
He added that the crowd of thousands dispersed into nearby housing areas with the FRU giving chase who continue to fire tear gas.
Others arrested include aides to Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak and S Manikumar, the candidate for the Bukit Selambau by-elections on April 7.
“I am so angry that the FRU used water cannons and tear gas on 5,000 people gathered to hear DSAI speak,” he stated.
He also told The Malaysian Insider that there are rumours that the authorities want to detain the PKR de facto leader.
Other PKR sources have also told The Malaysian Insider of such rumours since last week when Anwar first hit the campaign trail for the three simultaneous by-elections in Bukit Selambau, Bukit Gantang and Batang Ai.
We need a Malaysian Che Guevara right now!! Any takers??
Mr Bean - March 23, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Din, they are getting really desperate, with their ‘dalang’ elections due so soon. They will lash out at any perceived threats as their paranoia is at its peak. Beware of a repeat of Ops Long Grass.
The PR leaders must not be exposed to uneccessary risks until the murky fecalent situation of their own party becomes clearer.
I sense the hand of octogerian ‘dalang’ in this…
Menyalak-er - March 24, 2009 at 12:19 am
well , its a good sign for Pakatan
danildaud - March 24, 2009 at 2:17 am
Looks like our in-coming new PM will re-initiate the hard handedness of Dr.Mahatir, so it’s Najibism now…
toolan - March 24, 2009 at 7:14 am
Bean,
Che Guevara was notorious, brutal and ruthless. I would prefer Mahathma Ghandi’s nonviolence (ahimsa) and nonresistance. In his own words Ghandi said;
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always.”
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?”
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
“There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for.”
tean - March 24, 2009 at 10:23 am
These are desperate times for UMNO-BN, especially Najib who wants to be sure that there are no hitches to delay or scuttle his moves to be the next Prime Minister. Najib also wants a show of strength during the period of the UMNO convention starting today (March 24) when UMNO nationalism is at its zenith.
Najib faces three by-elections in Bukit Selambu (Kedah), Bukit Gantang (Perak) and Batang Ai (Sarawak). Their day of reckoning is now becomg a reality. In order to intimidate voters, strong arm methods by the Police/FRU are now being employed. So Bukit Selambu is the forerunner of things to come. Najib’s sole intention is to silence his critics using methods deployed by Mahathir (in 1987) to suppress freedom and emulate his late father who suspended parliamentary democracy via emergency rule (after May 13, 1969).
My own gut feeling is that he could be creating a crisis situation to justify the deployment of emergency powers. To a deparate and flawed man with an ambitious wife, the end (to be PM) justifies the means. I suppose, with a docile population, Najib might get away with it. The new UMNO president is undemocratic and fascist and will use all instruments of state to quell public protests.
Din Merican - March 24, 2009 at 11:16 am
“My own gut feeling is that he could be creating a crisis situation to justify the deployment of emergency powers”. Din
I don’t share your view Bro. Din. Deployment of emergency powers under current economic crisis would be a big disaster for the country. I don’t think Najib would be so dumb to take the route. It would be too costly for him and the nation. Should this happen, the government will be shooting their own foot.
___________
Tean, a desperate man with an ambitious wife….can do anything to gain and retain power. Do you think these UMNO characters care about what will happen to this country. If they did, we would not be a mess like we are today. That means that they are prepared to take this great country into the abyss. Prepare yourself for the worst which will likely come sooner than you can call “mama”!! It is politics, not public administration.—Din Merican
tean - March 24, 2009 at 11:38 am
…. “a desperate man with an ambitious wife….can do anything”.Din.
Bean, what you want them to do?
___________
New Yorker Bean and Tean (NYB and Mr. T),
If I may be permitted to answer you, Mr. Tean aka T, I will say that both Najib and Rosmah should be asked to account for the commissions and deals they make been raking in for the purchase of arms and in Khidmat Negara, etc and justify Rosmah’s purchase of shoes and container loads of designer clothes and related items before the MACC on a no cover-up basis, and then, they should be charged in our courts. Abuse of power and corruption can no longer be tolerated. To avoid all that, they, I suggest, should pack their bags and live abroad, preferably as long-term guests of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who is a close friend of Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad.—Din Merican
tean - March 24, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Are we being hoodwink by hoodlums to abandon legislation and order ‘ a state where the life goes on under the laws ‘ and in its stead usher in negative appraisals that leads to ‘ a fattened world ‘ dominated by leaders full of lechery pillaging of ordinary people. Social stability in a racist land is but a utopia merely fragments of ones imagination , there is nothing like that.
Leaders , government – opposition alike should’ve a ‘ rational attidude to life ‘
decisions made by the head not by the heart.
Danildaud - March 24, 2009 at 4:48 pm
“Abuse of power and corruption can no longer be tolerated. To avoid all that, they, I suggest, should pack their bags and live abroad …” Din Merican
Why should these goons leave the chicken that lays the golden eggs?? So others could have their chickens so they could lay eggs for them?
Mr. T,
What would you rather have your chicks do?? An eye for an eye, an egg for an egg?? You can have the damn egg I’d rather have the chicks.
Mr Bean - March 24, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Bean, you can have “the chick” . Can I assume that you prefer fatty Roasted chick?
Mr.T - March 24, 2009 at 11:24 pm