PENANG: A big group of protesters, mostly Umno members and supporters, took to the streets around Komtar after Friday prayers to protest against Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's remarks on the New Economic Policy.
Chanting “Hidup Melayu” (long-live the Malays) and “Allahuakbar” (God is great), the protesters marched towards Komtar in Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong at about 2.30pm.
They held banners with messages such as “Kami Penduduk Pulau Pinang Menyokong Penuh Kepimpinan Pak Lah” (We fully support Pak Lah’s leadership), “Anwar Ibrahim Pengkhianat Bangsa” (Anwar Ibrahim, traitor of the Malay race), “Tak akan Melayu Hilang di Pulau Pinang” (Malays will not be sidelined in Penang) and "Kepimpinan DAP dibantah oleh Melayu Pulau Pinang” (Penang Malays Protest Against the DAP-led goverment).
Among those who participated in the hour-long street protest were Penang Umno secretary and state opposition leader Datuk Azhar Ibrahim, former deputy Chief Minister Datuk Abdul Rashid Abdullah, Kepala Batas Umno Youth deputy chief Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Bukit Mertajam Umno division chief Senator Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir, Tanjung Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ibnihajar and former Penanti assemblyman Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid.
The protest was held in response to Lim's statement that DAP and PKR would run the government "free from the New Economic Policy (NEP) that breeds cronyism, corruption and systemic inefficiency".
Speaking to reporters, Musa said the state Umno would hand over a four-point memorandum to Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas next week in protest of Guan Eng’s statement.
“We do not want to hand the memorandum to the Chief Minister as we believe he will not protect the rights of the Malays. We want Tun (Abdul Rahman) to advise him after we hand over the memorandum,” he said.
Ahmad Ibnihajar denied that the protest was led by the state Umno but claimed that the Malays had gathered in response to an SMS circulated on Friday.
He said the DAP-led government had not respected the rights of the Malays and that the Penang Malays “wanted them out”.
At 3.30pm, George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid advised the protesters to disperse, using a loud hailer but they continued to hang around the area.
Thirty minutes later, the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) on stand-by nearby was called in to disperse the protesters. Only then did they leave.
Roadblocks were put up along Jalan Tunku Kudin near the Penang Bridge to prevent protesters from neighbouring states from joining the protest.
Police had received a tip-off about the protest on Thursday afternoon. Acting state police chief Senior Asst Comm (I) Datuk Salleh Mat Rasid said no untoward incidents were reported but two men were brought back for questioning.
"They were subsequently released after their statements were taken down. It was a relatively peaceful protest.
"Rumours of water cannons being used on protesters and bricks thrown into the shops in Komtar are all unfounded," he said.
Businesses such as jewellery shops and travel agencies located on the ground floor of the two nearby shopping complexes closed for business, but re-opened at 5pm.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Malaysian Ringgit Converter
4 comments:
So it's has started. I remembered the same thing happening in Sabah 22 years back when PBS first came into power. DAP made a mistake announcing it will do away with the NEP. This will be reason enough to start trouble. Pity the Penang ppl.
What are the police doing? They should have used the water cannon and tear gas to disperse these illegal demonstrators in the same way they did to the Bersih and Hindraf supporters. Or are the police of the view that UMNO demonstrator should be treated differently. MALU TERSANGAT!!!
come guys they should put them in ISA oh my bad they are umno people I am sorry i am in united states when they the amaricans ask me who iam my reply is iam an malaysian i don,t tell them i am an indian
Fear, that is the ideology that was planted into the mind of 1st & 2nd generation Malaysian by the British colony and later UMNO. Fear of change, fear of riot, fear of racial unrest, fear of all kind is the way we were brought up. I know, I was brought up with that fear. 1997 were the year that changes most of our fear but not those who live in the comfort zone. Most of the UMNO Malay was in the living in the comfort zone in 1997 on the expanse of other that is because they are government servant or UMNO business crony. After Anwar Ibrahim expel from UMNO the secret of all the UMNO wrong doing begin to surface. We still stand by Mahathir not because we fear MEI 13 or racial unrest or the ISA or the police. Poverty & Hunger are more fearful than anything. We stand by him because he has track record and a big group of Chinese, Indian and Malay billionaire crony who will back him to save the country from the greatest fear that even he and his crony fear. We give him one more chance to make it right and go, he fail though by picking Badawi. Anyway we still give Badawi the same chance when he promise to bring Malaysia out of all the problem but he not only fail he is consider as unqualified to be a PM. I am not going to stress here about him but to get to the point of why we need change. We should not fear of change because we will never know what is the out come maybe good maybe bad. Only people who are in the comfort zone fear change but without change there will never be progress. We do not care who run this country, as long as its function fairly trough good and bad time. Black cat white cat theory. When a system malfunction we need to fix it by changing its component and part but when a system is beyond repair we need to change the system. Why are the Malay so worry about their ketuanan? When they are the one who try to pull down their king and agong. Isn't the Agong and raja a symbol of ketuanan or UMNO Malay feel they are above the king. The issue of perkauman and ketuanan are always brought by UMNO to provoke other race. I tell you here the 3rd & 4th Generation do not have all that fear and don't buy the UMNO tactic because they are educated with global standard to understand the we are the world. Country & Government are only domain that serve its function to its user and there can never have permanent administrator. Umno are just another program and cannot claim as the only program and if it malfunction or obsolete then it must be deleted.
by halFPASSsix
Post a Comment