Opposition's protest gathering causes traffic jam

The gathering organised by the opposition pact, here, yesterday to protest against the 13th general election results, caused a massive traffic congestion along the entry/exit road to the Batu Kawan Stadium and its surrounding area.

The traffic jam which stretched for 10 kilometres started yesterday evening and went on until about 3am today when participants of the protest gathering indiscriminately parked their cars along the road without considering other road users.

The problem was aggravated by the organisers' failure to control the traffic flow while there was only one passage for the public to enter and exit the stadium area.

A resident from a housing area in Batu Kawan, Mohd Zaidi Ibrahim, 45, said he and his family who were returning home from shopping in Seberang Jaya were stuck in the traffic congestion for over four hours. "The organisers' decision of holding the demonstration here has inconvenienced the public and the residents in Batu Kawan as they did not consider the traffic situation and allowed the demonstration participants to haphazardly park their cars.

"We, the residents here, very much regret the organisers' action as it is a public nuisance," he said early this morning.

The illegal gathering was attended by several opposition leaders including Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

However, no uniformed policemen including traffic policemen were seen around.

Anwar is viewed by many quarters to be increasingly desperate to be in power by inciting the people to attend such illegal gatherings planned to be held at several locations in the country, accusing the Election Commission of failing to hold the recently-concluded 13th general election in a clean and fair manner.