BAGAN DATOH: Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has warned that there will be more arrests of leaders and those associated with both Bersih 5 and Red Shirts in the days ahead.
“There will be more arrests to come after this,” he told reporters during his visit to flood victims in Rungkup and Bagan Datoh here yesterday.
He also brushed off accusations that there had been abuse of power in the arrests of Bersih 2.0 leaders a day before yesterday’s rally in Kuala Lumpur.
“Why is this an abuse of power? We did not only haul up people from one rally. We also detained many of the Red Shirts members,” he said.
The Deputy Prime Minister was referring to the arrests of Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah and secretariat officer Mandeep Singh.
Also arrested were several Opposition members and activists.
Red Shirts leader Datuk Seri Jamal Yunos was detained at around 1.30am yesterday, hours before the Bersih 5 rally was due to kick off.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said he would not reveal the full list of suspects at the moment as the law enforcement aspect was in the hands of the Inspector-General of Police.
“If they are found to have broken the law, not only will they be arrested, they will be charged and brought to court,” he added.
He stressed that the arrests of the leaders was to demonstrate to the people that the country’s laws should be respected.
MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said there was nothing democratic about bringing down a democratically-elected Government through street rallies that caused disruption to social stability.
Malaysians treasured peace and harmony. But, he said there are those who wanted to incite them to topple the Government illegally.
The Bersih movement, which started as an electoral reform group, had deviated from its original objectives, he added.
“MCA supports the call for a clean and fair election, but Bersih has been made into a tool by the Opposition,” he said at the opening of the annual general meeting of the Federation of Foochow Associations Malaysia here yesterday.
He urged the people to take a good look at the Opposition and not fall into their political trap.
The Government, he added, would not allow street rallies to hinder its transformation programmes for the country.
Liow’s comments on Bersih were echoed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
She accused Bersih of not respecting the mandate of a democratically-elected Government.
She also called the leaders spearheading the Yellow movement a “motley crew of former enemies driven by self-interest, not for the greater good of society”.
“If it is was really the people they truly cared about, they would not break Malaysia’s laws and bring chaos to our capital, negatively impacting businesses and the people who are trying to go about their daily lives.
“It is unlawful for any party to try to unseat a democratically-elected government via street protests.
“They should play by the rules of our democracy and wait until the next election so that Malaysians can again choose their government via the ballot box,” Azalina said in a statement.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak said yesterday’s Bersih turnout was a serious setback for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his new party.
He added Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia was supposed to bring masses of new Malay supporters to the Opposition and Bersih 5.
But, yesterday’s rally saw a serious drop in participants compared to last year’s rally, he said.
“The result of Mahathir and his cronies joining Bersih (yesterday) has seen the turnout drop by nearly 97%. Malays see through his selfish agenda and refused to attend.
“And the vast majority of Malaysians have rejected the hypocrisy of Bersih, and rejected Pribumi.
“They can see it is a party of has-beens and failures, created only out of Mahathir’s desperation for his son to become prime minister after Umno rejected him.”
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