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Dissolve Perak assembly or face strike
Malaysia Kini - July 9, 2009
The BN state government has been given an ultimatum to dissolve the state assembly and call for fresh state elections in a month or face a day-long state-wide strike.
The 'Campaign to Dissolve the Perak State Assembly' committee headed by R Mohana Rani handed a letter to Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir's special assistant Azhar Ahmad at 10.30am today, accompanied by about 25 representatives from the newly formed group.
"We have given the BN state government until Aug 8 to dissolve the assembly and call for fresh elections, failing which we will harness the power of the people for a day-long state-wide strike," Mohana Rani (right) said.
"The strike will be the springboard for more of people-power actions to force the BN state government to heed the people's wish."
She said "the courts may have determined the political direction and outlook by legalising BN's rule, but Perakians on the whole are unhappy with the back-door entry of the coalition".
There was a heavy presence of police personnel inside the compound of the state secretariat when the 25 representatives of the NGO made their way in, carrying a banner.
Sungai Siput MP Dr D Jeyakumar said Ipoh CID chief Glenn Anthony had told him that the group must have a police permit to carry the banner which called for dissolution of the state assembly.
When Jeyakumar reminded him that – according to the human rights commission (Suhakam) – there is no need to get permit for banners, Glen was said to have replied that Suhakam is not the law.
NONEWhen Jeyakumar and his supporters unfurled the rolled banner for press photographs, two state secretariat security personnel ordered the group to leave the premises.
The group pressed on and finally had their way. They left at 11.30am.
'People are suffering' Mohana Rani, also a member of the national central committee of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), said the planned strike is among the resolutions passed by the party at its AGM in Ipoh recently.
She said the 25 members of the campaign committee will go to the grassroots to explain the move and seek feedback.
"The people-friendly projects started by the Pakatan Rakyat state government have either been scrapped or put on hold by the present BN state government," she claimed.
"The people on the ground, especially the poor, are suffering from the effects of the drastic political changes in the state policies."
PSM and Jerit (the Coalition of Oppressed People's Network) which jointly proposed the strike, will also seen input from other NGOs and Pakatan Rakyat coalition parties before implementing the plan.
NONE"Why rob the people of the power to choose their state government?" Mohana Rani asked.
Asked if the strike would really materialise, she replied: "Please do not underestimate the power of the people."
Findings from a recent survey by the independent Merdeka Centre show that 44 percent of Malaysians back the call for fresh elections as the way to resolve the political crisis in Perak.
Of those polled, 54 percent of Chinese Malaysians, 46 percent of Indians and 38 percent of Malays agreed with this.
Zambry, asked later to comment on the committee's ultimatum, said "this state does not belong to them".
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