Pakatan Rakyat kick-off its post election gathering

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) kicks-off its post 13th General Election gathering yesterday night although did not received any permission from the police.

The gathering, themed as ‘Suara Rakyat Suara Keramat’, saw an attendance of close to 50,000 at MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya.

These determined crowd, not distracted by the drizzle, stayed throughout the event so that they could listen to opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's speech.

“Due to the win by Pakatan Rakyat, I will never back-off as a sign of respect to the people,” said Anwar.

Anwar said that he will not retire from politics like his promised earlier. He was reportedly saying that he would retire from politics (and consider to become a lecturer) if PR did not win during the recent general election and fail to form a government in Putrajaya.

The election results showed that PR won after received a big percentage of the popular votes compared to incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN).

Anwar also reminded the people not to be easily influenced by any attempts to twist the people with racial issues.

PR said that the event had received support from all types of people, as it was attended by all three major races in the country -- Malays, Chinese and Indians.

Beside that, Anwar also urged everyone to wear black outfit this Saturday as a protest for the declining of democracy. A similar gathering will also be held in Penang on the same day.

The gathering caused massive traffic jam on a five kilometres stretch at Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP).

Police earlier had explained that the gathering is illegal as the organiser did not make any application to the police.

The organiser had been advised to follow the rules and used the right channel by applying for a permission from district police.

Although the Peace Assembly Act said it does not require a permit to organise an assembly/ gathering, the Act also stated that organisers would need to inform the police about the event 10 days prior to the gathering.

Meanwhile, Election Commission chairman (EC) Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said any open protest, rally or gathering will not change the result of the election or force it to have another re-election process.