Anwar supporters teargassed, Malay unity talks off<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia's Islamic opposition on
\nSunday postponed Malay unity talks with Prime Minister Mahathir
\nMohamad as police in his home state fired water cannon and tear
\ngas at supporters of jailed rival Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
The police used the strong arm tactics to disperse hundreds of
\nAnwar supporters protesting against the trial of opposition
\nactivists, mostly members of Anwar's Parti Keadilan Nasional
\n(National Justice Party) in Kulim, a town in the northwest state
\nof Kedah.<\/p>\n
Eye witnesses and court officials said at least six people
\nwere arrested.<\/p>\n
In a separate incident on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, 45 people
\nincluding 11 women marching to oppose the closure of a 70-year-
\nold Chinese-language school were hauled in by police.<\/p>\n
In each case protesters were accused of ignoring controversial
\ncurbs on public gatherings, under which police can declare any
\ngathering of more than four people illegal.<\/p>\n
A few days earlier police in Kedah used water cannon to break
\nup an anti-government rally of 5,000 people. The police said the
\nrally was illegal as the organizers had no permit.<\/p>\n
Leaders of Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) issued a statement
\nafter the latest incident on Sunday saying the Malay unity talks
\nwith Mahathir's party set for Monday had now been postponed. It
\nsaid the talks would go-ahead at a more conducive time.<\/p>\n
Bernama news agency quoted PAS president Fadzil Noor as saying
\nthere had been \"a few incidents detrimental to the situation and
\nas such the meeting scheduled for tomorrow... is postponed.\"<\/p>\n
Fadzil said other preconditions for the talks were that oil
\nroyalty payments be reinstated to a state his party governs and
\nfor publishing restrictions on its newspaper to be loosened.<\/p>\n
Tolerance<\/p>\n
He condemned police actions in breaking up anti-government
\ndemonstrations at the weekend, saying peaceful demonstrations
\nshould be tolerated.<\/p>\n
\"These wild attacks on gatherings should stop,\" Fadzil told a
\nnews conference called to announce his parties demands for the
\ntalks with Mahathir.<\/p>\n
A newly formed human rights commission is to conduct a study
\non whether the rules should be relaxed to allow peaceful
\ndemonstrations. Illegal assembly is punishable by up to one year
\nin jail, a fine or both, although relatively few people have in
\npractice been jailed for this offense.<\/p>\n
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said street
\nprotests staged by opposition parties were \"undemocratic\" and
\nwould not resolve problems.<\/p>\n
\"There are (other) ways to do it. They are represented in
\nparliament and many of their representatives can register their
\nobjections,\" he was quoted as saying by Bernama.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, PAS said it wanted any talks with Mahathir to
\ninclude sensitive political topics including official corruption,
\nthe independence of the judiciary and the case of Anwar. It also
\ndemanded that the talks include the reinstatement of oil
\nroyalties worth more than 1 billion ringgit (US$263 million)
\nannually to the eastern state of Terengganu.<\/p>\n
Reinstatement of the payments was now a precondition of the
\ntalks, Fadzil said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Mahathir froze the payments last year on grounds that the
\nopposition group had no legal right to them. Two other states
\nruled by allies in Mahathir's coalition continue to receive oil
\nroyalties.<\/p>\n
Unity<\/p>\n
Mahathir has said the talks should focus on Malay unity, not
\npolitical issues. There was no immediate response from the
\ngovernment party to PAS's announcement.<\/p>\n
The fate of former finance minister Anwar, who is serving a
\n15-year jail term many Malays think is unjust, had been on the
\nagenda at PAS's insistence, along with a range of other sensitive
\nissues.<\/p>\n
Mahathir is seeking to restore the image of his United Malays
\nNational Organization (UMNO) within the majority Malay community,
\nwhich accounts for 55 percent of Malaysia's 22 million people.<\/p>\n
UMNO, which has led every government since independence from
\nBritain in 1957, is probably more unpopular with Malays than at
\nany time in its history.<\/p>\n
The current UMNO-led coalition includes parties drawn from
\nMalaysia's minority Chinese and Indian communities.<\/p>\n
UMNO won less than 50 percent of the Malay vote in the
\nNovember 1999 election, its worst performance for 30 years, and
\nhas shown little sign of turning the tide ahead of the next
\nelection due in 2004.<\/p>\n
UMNO leaders were stung by the ferocity of criticism leveled
\nat them during a mass gathering in Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago
\nwhich had been billed as a Malay unity rally.<\/p>\n
Mahathir last month invited PAS to join in the unity talks,
\nwhile Anwar's Keadilan, led by his wife, rejected a similar
\noffer.<\/p>\n
Keadilan won a by-election in the northwest state of Kedah,
\nMahathir's home territory, last November. The nine people on
\ntrial in Kulim stand accused of rioting during the by-election.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/anwar-supporters-teargassed-malay-unity-talks-off-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}