MALAYSIA
Thousands flood Pakatan rally in Johor
File photo of the huge crowd at the Petaling Jaya rally on May 8, 2013. — Reuters picKUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — Tens of thousands of people thronged Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) rally in Johor Baru last night for free and fair elections despite the rain.
According to Malaysiakini, the crowd mostly comprised young people who protested against alleged vote-rigging in Election 2013 that Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said enabled Barisan Nasional (BN) to retain federal power.
“Where is a country in this world where a leader gets 47 per cent of the popular vote and rules the country?” Anwar was quoted as saying at the rally last night.
“I am not stepping down because I got 51 per cent of the popular vote and was denied a win because of fraud,” added the PKR de facto leader.
The Johor Baru rally is PR’s fifth rally after mass protests in Petaling Jaya, Penang, Ipoh and Kuantan recently.
Some 100 police officers were reportedly on standby during the protest in the southern state, but did not interrupt the rally.
Anwar said yesterday that PR would not resort to street protests to overturn the BN government, but would stick to indoor rallies instead to “voice their disgust” at alleged electoral fraud in the May 5 general election.
He added that calls for a mass street protest to oust the BN administration did not come from PR, but from affiliated non-governmental organisations.
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