Barely five days after being erected, the plaque commemorating the Perak 'democracy tree' has been defaced by vandals.

Three corners of the marble plaque - which described how the Feb 24 Perak emergency state assembly sitting was forced to be held under the raintree - were broken.

pokok demokrasi democracy tree vandalised 130309 This, however, did not damage the main portion of the plaque which described the historic and controversial assembly sitting.

The web-edition of China Press reported that many curious Ipoh residents have been visiting the site to check the extent of the damage this morning.

Perak speaker V Sivakumar who inspected the site this morning, described the vandals as "immoral".

According to DAP leader Lim Kit Siang, the vandals came in the small hours of the night and "smashed into smithereens the top portion of the democracy plaque, leaving behind a democracy relic".

Pakatan to restore plaque

At about 11am, ousted Menteri Besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin led a large contingent of Pakatan leaders and state representatives to visit the scene.

mohammad nizar jamaluddin "This was the work of people who do not want to see democracy in the country," said Mohd Nizar.

Perak DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming told Malaysiakini that Pakatan was not only determined to restore the plaque, but aims to make the memorial multilingual.

nga kor ming "If one falls, thousands will rise up. This will not defeat Pakatan's strong will to defend parliamentary democracy," said Nga, who is Pantai Remis assemblyperson and Taiping MP.

Nga said restoration work on the plaque will be carried out because the tree was not only a symbol of democracy but fast becoming a tourist attraction.

According to several eye-witnesses, tourists, including two Americans, were among the crowd at the tree today.