The group's spokesperson Ronnie Liu said while they respect the right to assemble, organisers of the counter rallies have gone overboard by threatening violence.
"We are not saying that people cannot organise a gathering but it has to be peaceful.
"But even before the Sept 16 and Oct 10 gathering, there have already been promotional materials that are very provocative.
"They are threatening a bloodbath; this is really going to the extreme," the former Selangor executive council member told Malaysiakini when contacted.
He claimed the materials were spreading racial hatred and promoting unrest.
The materials label the Bersih 4 protest as a "Chinese affair" and called for Malays to hold their own.
The group earlier today lodged a police report against the planned gatherings at the Dangi Wangi district police headquarters.
"I hope the police will not allow this to get out of hand," said Liu, a former DAP state assemblyperson.
Perkasa, Pekida should stay away from rally
Liu also urged Malay NGOs Pekida and Perkasa to disassociate themselves from these counter rallies.
"I hope Perkasa and Pekida will come out and declare that they are not part of the rally.
"This is because the promotional materials claim the NGOs are part of it and if they do not distance themselves, that people may think they are really involved," he said.
In the police report, Liu asked the police to investigate if Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Yunus is responsible for the planned rallies as he had issued such threats prior to the Bersih 4 rallies.
Jamal had, prior to the Aug 29 and 30 Bersih 4 rally, led a demonstration in which participants displayed their martial arts skills.
He later said they would also train using the parang (machete).
He then declared that his men would meet Bersih 4 participants on the streets but later aborted the plan when police initiated an investigation.
More than 100,000 people attended the 34-hour Bersih 4 peaceful protest to call for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's resignation over the RM2.6 billion in his personal bank accounts.
Meanwhile, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang also urged the police to act against any provocative counter protests.
"I call on the home minister and the inspector-general of police to take strong action against anyone trying provoke or foment racial strife in plural Malaysian like the so-called Sept 16 protest," he said in a statement.
Lim said police would do better to focus on this instead of offering rewards to find who stomped on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's photograph at the Bersih 4 rally.
"Those who had stomped on the images of Najib and Hadi were wrong and should apologise for their actions.
"But why is the police giving higher priority to such wrong and misguided conduct as compared to criminal acts like inciting racial hatred and strife, as launching a Malay rally against the Chinese, by falsely accusing the Bersih 4 rally as a Chinese demonstration?" asked Lim.
No comments:
Post a Comment