“MOVE ON” was the advice that DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook gave UMNO Youth when his party was recently asked to apologise for alleged past transgressions against UMNO.
The Transport Minister-cum-Seremban MP knew that arguing about over such things was a waste of time.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail could use some of Loke’s business-like comportment.
He should be telling the police they ought to “move on” about their intention to question organisers of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) demo in Kampung Baru and at Sogo in Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Day (Sept 16).
The organisers had supposedly failed to furnish adequate particulars of their plan to demonstrate and so had been in violation of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA 2012). That questioning would be much ado about nothing.
PN’s demo was to protest the discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) for Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on corruption charges he faced over his foundation’s funds for charity.
It’s only realism for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government, particularly its Pakatan Harapan (PH) component, to see the DNAA for Zahid as an albatross that will hang around its neck until the 16th General Election (GE16) in 2027.
Its infamy will only be dispelled if the unity government implements the range of its manifesto of economic and political reform.
Presently, the government appears constrained over implementation. This has disappointed supporters but they are not about to abandon their support, particularly when the alternative (PN) is grossly unappealing.
But the government should not be presumptuous about their support. Meanwhile, any quibbles over the legitimacy of PN demonstrations against Zahid’s DNAA are exercises in futility, not to mention hypocrisy.
Futility because PN has a right to demonstrate against the Zahid DNAA; hypocrisy because PH in the era of fighting for Reformasi (1998 to 2018) were frequent demonstrators and protestants – against corruption – if nothing else.
Under recent amendments to the PAA 2012, only notifications to the police of intent to demonstrate are required, not permission from the police.
Hence the necessity of PH advice to the police to “move on” about questioning PN organisers over their Malaysia Day demos.
Better still, if PH adopts a “be our guests” attitude to the PN plan to hold demos against Zahid’s DNAA in places like Ipoh and Penang.
Such an attitude is sensible as it would pre-empt the thunder from PN’s protests. – Sept 18, 2023
Pics credit: PAS Facebook, HarakahDaily
