PKR secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim has denounced the “forces of repression” following the suspension of the party organ and the firing of tear gas and chemical spray at a rally in Bukit Selambau, Kedah.

salehuddin hashim interview 110408 neutral “We have been anticipating the spectre of escalating repression to rise with Najib Abdul Razak taking over the prime ministerial post. But it seems that even before that, the forces of repression are fanning out, wreaking their own special havoc,” he told Malaysiakini .

He was responding to the three-month suspension imposed yesterday by the Home Ministry on Suara Keadilan , the PKR newsletter. Also banned was Harakah , the official organ of PAS, and a partner in the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat.

“Najib is pulling out all stops in a government campaign to hobble the opposition’s efforts to communicate with the rakyat in advance of the three by-elections at Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai,” remarked Salehudin.

bukit selambau anwar ceramah police fru attack 240309 08 “The firing of tear gas at the PKR rally in Bukti Selambau last night and the arrests made are cruder options within their arsenal of repression.

"They are trying out to see whether they can squelch the forces of political change in Malaysia.

“They will not succeed. For, greater than the tread of repressive forces is an idea whose time has come. The idea of political change is an irresistible wave. You cannot stem its flow in Malaysia.”

Kedah police chief Syed Ismail Syed Azizan today said that a total of 31 people have been arrested - 19 men and two women.

They were all released this morning, he added.

The face of defiance

Salehuddin also commented on the fielding of Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin as the PAS candidate in the Bukit Gantang by-elections in Perak.

nizar jamaluddin perak mb court trial perak bn takeover zambry 180209 05 “It is opportune that our coalition partner PAS has seen it fit to field (him). In circumstances like these, the people who are repulsed by what is happening would rally around the most recognisable face among the defiant, and that figure right now is Nizar (right) .”

He congratulated PAS for being “politically savvy in the teeth of the government’s mounting resort to the cruder weapons of media control and voter intimidation”.

“One would have thought that in all the rhetoric of change that the Umno leadership has resorted to in the last several months, there would be - with Najib’s ascension to prime minister - a display of more subtle forms of political combat and persuasion,” said Salehuddin.

“Instead what we are getting to see is the crude display of a fist, not even sheathed in a velvet glove as one would minimally expect in these times of Internet fostered openness. You can’t have more damning evidence of intellectual and moral bankruptcy.”