One of the organising members of the Blackout 505 rally in Penang on May 12 is to be charged on Monday under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA).

penang black rally post-ge13 record crowd 4 Pakatan Rakyat secretariat’s executive secretary Ong Eu Leong of Penang PKR said that he has been summoned to appear before  the Butterworth Sessions Court at 8.30am.

“On May 23, 2013, ASP Govind came to PKR’s office to serve a summons on me and I will be charged under Section 9(1) (which requires the organiser to notify the OCPD 10 days ahead of the rally),” said Ong in a statement today.

The rally - held in Batu Kawan - saw tens of thousands showing up at the local stadium to protest against alleged fraud during the May 5 general election.

Ong said that the organisers had notified the authorities of the rally on several occasions, and blasted the police for “flip-flopping”.

NONE According to him, on May 11 The Star reported Penang police chief deputy commissioner Abdul Rahim Hanafi ( left ) as saying that “the organiser had submitted a notice to the district police chief as stated in the PAA.

“We will mobilise our men to the scene to maintain public order and safety. We will also ensure smooth traffic flow,” read the report.

Ong said he submitted a notice to the Bukit Mertajam OCPD and went in on May 10 to discuss the matter with them.

“We decided then to move the rally to the Batu Kawan stadium. Out of being a law-abiding citizen, I informed (police headquarters) IPD Nibong Tebal about the rally in Batu Kawan Stadium even though I had done it with IPD Bukit Mertajam,” he added.

“The police and BN-Umno leadership have always called on civic societies and political parties to organise their rallies in a stadium, yet true to their flip-flopping nature, they have gone back on their words again.

'Let the rakyat be the judge'

“If we can't have it in the stadium and without the electronic media, we will definitely seek other venues to have our rally,” he said.

“Let the rakyat be the judge on this malicious attempt to silence the opponent of BN-Umno; no matter how BN-Umno wants to repackage their image, they have failed to transform and far from reforming, they will always remain in the same old rejected bottle,” he added.

NONE Apart from Ong, others who are expected to be charged over post-election rallies include Ipoh Timor MP Thomas Su and Perak PKR secretary Mohammad Anuar Zakaria in Ipoh on Monday.

Meanwhile, it was reported that PKR's Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had been charged on May 19, whereas student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim ( left ) was charged on Wednesday.

On the same day as Adam’s arrest, PKR vice-president Tian Chua, Anything But Umno (ABU) chief Haris Ibrahim and former Batu Berendam MP and PAS member Tamrin Ghafar were separately detained in Kuala Lumpur, and released the following day.

However, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today that the police will appeal againsta magistrate's decision yesterday to  reject a remand order for the trio.

Bersih: Selective persecution

Meanwhile coalition for clean and fair elections Bersih slammed the persecution of those who were “merely exposing the fraud and manipulations” in the last general election.

“Those detained are Malaysians who dare to voice what have frustrated and  angered most Malaysians since the conclusion of the 13th general election.

Bersih sees these recent arrests as a move on the part of the Najib regime to silence critics of the recent election that was tainted by irregularities, unethical practices and  blatant cheating,” said the coalition’s steering committee in a statement today.

It said the authorities were selective in their persecution, noting how “thugs sympathetic to BN have been to open  air gatherings organised by civil society, to create trouble and to scare speakers and  participants”.