The planned sombre protest demonstration by 60 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members and supporters against the proposed amendments to the labour laws said to favour employers, turned into celebrations yesterday when Parliament deferred the controversial bill.

PSM national deputy chief M Saraswathy said the withdrawal of the bill in Parliament was a major victory for the 11 million workers in the country.

NONE "Maybe this is a temporary withdrawal as an election gimmick to ensure BN's win in the two upcoming by-elections for a Kelantan state seat and a Sabah parliamentary seat," said Saraswathy ( left ).

"However, we will closely monitor the BN government to ensure that the bill does not come up again to be passed in Parliament.

"We will go to the ground to explain this controversial bill and empower the workers to fight for their rights as Malaysian citizens," she said.

PSM and Jerit (People's Oppressed Group) played a major role in deferring this anti-labour bill by sending memorandums and protest letters to Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

  Sweets shared out

Only a small number of police personnel were around when the protest function started at about 5.30pm along Jalan Tasek near the Yoon Steel factory in Ipoh.

NONE The 10 PSM members were later joined by about 50 factory workers who had finished their work shift.

Sweets were also distributed by the joyful PSM members to the factory workers and also to the police personnel at the scene of the incident.

The crowd dispersed at about 6.10pm after the peaceful protest.

Meanwhile in Sungai Siput, PSM state coordinator M Sugumaran said the peaceful protest started at 5pm under the presence of heavy police personnel including the Light Strike Force.

According to Sugumaran, factory workers after finishing their work shift fifteen minutes later gave support to the protest and the crowd swelled to about 50.

The event along Jalan Industri leading up to Jalong Garden and Orchid Garden had the support of DAP Jalong assemblyperson Leong Mee Meng and other local Pakatan leaders and ended peacefully without any untoward incidents.