#AntiGST: Opposition seeks sympathy votes, exposes defense weakness - Armand

The anti-GST rally held in Kuala Lumpur Saturday is an effort by the Opposition to play up issues and seeking the sympathy of the rakyat.

UMNO Youth Exco, Armand Azha Abu Hanifah said, the Opposition deliberately used the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to garner the support of the anti-GST protesters.

“They have tarnished the public holiday by organising the rally and had caused further damage about the newly-implemented tax which is supposedly viewed to improve the well-being of the rakyat in the long run.

“This is just an effort to play up emotions to conceal all the problems faced by the Opposition apart from showing the ripples within its members after its leader (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) arrested,” said Armand when contacted by Astro AWANI today.

READ: Thousands march in anti-GST rally

On Friday, an approximate 10,000 protesters had converged on Central Market aimed at urging the Barisan Nasional-led government to abolish the Goods and Services Tax before they proceeded to march towards KLCC.

The rakyat, said Armand, must understand that the government is constantly improving the GST apart from listening to the rakyat’s woes through existing channels.

“They gathered, flagged banners and unnecessarily cheered and jeered when in reality, the government has provided the platforms for the rakyat to voice their grouses about GST.

“The government has always wanted to be nice to the rakyat and the GST is one of them. The rakyat doesn’t seem to see this because it is only a month that the new tax was implemented.

Prior to this, Special Affairs Department (Jasa) think tank panelist Lokman Noor Adam was reported saying that the failure to grasp the definition and the benefit of GST is seen as the main factor behind the anti-GST rally.

Lokman stressed that the protest stemmed from the misunderstanding of Opposition efforts in manipulating the issue to tarnish the Government’s image.