YOURSAY 'When we debate public issues and should we disagreed, we don't go to the person's home to vent our frustration.'

Traders 'grill' Ambiga with burger protest

Ferdtan: These 'hooligan' petty traders group Ikhlas are obviously out to cause trouble for political reason.

We know which political party they supported. To pull such a stunt like setting up a burger stall right in front of a private home, of Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga, is not only stupid but damaging to the party they supported.

The smell of Umno's hands in this childish harassment is clear as most of these bullies wore 1Malaysia logo on their shirts. Is this 1Malaysia which PM Najib Razak is proud of?

Ambiga rightly asked our national leaders, especially Najib or Home Minister Hishammuddin, who is in charge of the police, to issue a statement. If this is not pure harassment, then what is?

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, where are you? In debates with your opponents you always project yourself as civil and a gentleman. To walk the talk, please come out to condemn such thuggery. This has to stop.

Police, you have seen such harassment, and it was tantamount to a threat to her and her family's safety. If anything untoward happened to her or her family, we shall hold the police responsible.

Be warned, any attempt to hurt Ambiga or her family, 200,000 Bersih supporters would be on the street to march in solidarity with her.

Anonymous #25708689: We have to draw a line. When we debate public issues and should we disagreed, we don't go to the person home to vent our frustration.

Like business disputes, whatever the differences, they are dealt with at business premises. This action can be view as a subtle intimidation.

Anonymous_3e2c: Thirty traders lost more than RM200,000, they claim. That's almost RM6,667 per trader a day. The income tax officers will have their hands full to study this claim.

With such income, one trader makes RM26,668 per month if he works only on the four Saturdays a month. In a year, the trader makes RM320,016 by working for only 48 days a year.

I wonder whether this trader is paying any income tax. If not, why are we paying income tax, when we have to work around 240 days a year and earn less than a quarter of his earnings.

Vgeorgemy: Ikhlas chairperson Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, we have seen the monies made by the petty traders on that Saturday. Collections are more than enough to cover six months of operations. You guys are losers.

One thing is sure; you can't intimidate the rakyat by your antics. We are calling upon the youths of KL to boycott Ikhlas-supported traders to make them go out of business permanently.

We shouldn't give them our hard-earned money so that they can threaten us. Teach them that their customers are the main reason for their existence, not Umno warlords.

Kepong Durian: It seems that some of them haven't learnt the true meaning of democracy. Democracy doesn't mean unrestricted freedom of speech and action.

When Bersih protested they did it on the street, not in front of the Election Commission chairperson's house. Clearly these people have breached privacy of the residential area.

How did they find Ambiga's address? Was Ambiga legally liable for the consequences of Bersih? Whoever is behind this, please deal with this issue in the Parliament or the courts - like a mature adult.

Tholu: Umno and its cronies incessantly claim that Bersih protesters are violent. But it is clearly the anti-Bersih protesters who are violent.

They are embarrassingly insolent and unrestrained in their spewing of vitriol and even in issuing seditious statements.

What is the police doing about their behaviour, which is very dangerous and undermine the peace and unity of the people?

Lim Chong Leong: If they had opened their stall on 428 (April 28), they would have sold out in seconds. But these traders chose to close shop and used the Bersih rally as an excuse to ‘lepak' and play guitar under the coconut tree.

This is definitely Umno at work and using our money as always. And of course DBKL (KL City Hall) and police will just stand by and do nothing to stop these protestors. Why don't they tear gas them too?

Anonymous #06500451: I suggest you all go and check with Burger King restaurant near Masjid Jamek how their business was on 428. Or any other traders doing business on that day around Petaling Street. They were all laughing their way to the bank.

They lost business opportunity because they believed in what BN said - that there would be a riot. But no trader was harm by any protestor on that day, so by logic they should have 'grill' their burger in front of Wisma Umno.

Anonymous #07910507: Headshots should be taken of all traders who claim to have made huge losses during Bersih 3.0 so that the public can identify them.

We should then hit them where they claim they were hurt the most during the Bersih rally - their pockets. Boycott these stalls.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .