Keadilan Terengganu Youth chief Fariz Musa wants the resignation of four top Barisan Alternatif (BA) leaders over the last-minute postponement of a planned mass gathering last Saturday outside the office of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

Fariz said PAS vice-presidents Mustafa Ali and Dr Hasan Ali, Keadilan secretary-general Abdul Rahman Othman and his deputy Mustaffa Kamil Ayub should vacate their posts for having been involved in the decision to postpone it.

Three of the four - Hasan, Abdul Rahman and Mustaffa - are also members of the BA election irregularities action committee, tasked with gathering evidence to support opposition claims of election fraud encountered during the March 21 general election. Hasan is the committee's chairperson.

"Many supporters are disappointed that the gathering was not held (to protest election irregularities). The short notice also caused much inconvenience to those who had prepared to travel to Kuala Lumpur to take part in the gathering and to attend a dinner at PAS headquarters that night," Fariz told malaysiakini .

"These leaders should also be responsible for the arrests of 15 people (during a smaller gathering that day).... they must resign."

The mass gathering, aimed at mobilising thousands, had been publicised since April 13 as a key activity in a BA road show planned by the committee .

Following the postponement, a small group of Keadilan leaders and reformasi supporters decided to hold a scaled-down version of the gathering to mark the anniversary of the jailing of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim for corrupt practice on April 14, 1999 - dubbed 'Black 14'.

Police then moved in to arrest 15 participants - including Keadilan vice-presidents Tian Chua and Dr Sanusi Osman - on grounds that the crowd had refused to disperse. However, the police statement has since been rebutted.

Fariz was among those who spoke outside the Suhakam office in Jalan Raja Laut during that gathering. Others included Chua and another Keadilan vice-president R Sivarasah.

Decision-making process

The current issue of a Keadilan organ, Suara PRM , which has just been published, carries a front-page article under the heading Perhimpunan anti SPR digagalkan oleh jawatankuasa sendiri (Anti-Election Commission rally botched by the committee itself).

( Suara PRM was the Parti Rakyat Malaysia organ before the party merged with Keadilan last August. Keadilan also publishes Seruan Keadilan.)

Explaining the process that led to the gathering being postponed, the article said an emergency meeting had been called on April 14 to decide whether or not to proceed with the event.

Mustafa, Mustaffa, Abdul Rahman and two other BA election irregularities action committee members, Dr Hatta Ramli and Dr Lo Lo Ghazali of PAS, were present.

According to the report, the meeting decided to call off the gathering by three votes to two. The two votes were said to have come from Hatta - who turned up at Saturday's gathering - and Lo Lo.

"It is uncertain as to why a non-committee member (Mustafa) had cast his vote," the report said.

Media statements were sent out the following day to inform the press that the gathering had been postponed indefinitely, without a reason being given.

Yesterday, at a press conference, Mustafa was asked why the gathering had been postponed.

"It was the third Saturday (of the month, a holiday for the civil service), Suhakam was not working," he replied, adding that BA has yet to decide a new date for the gathering.