A lot of debate has been going on in the media and cyberspace especially after PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali and Rembau PKR branch head Badrul Hisham Shaharin were recently charged for breaking the law during the infamous Bersih 3.0 street protest here on April 28.

anwar ibrahim wan azizah wan ismail paa charge bersih 3.0 court 2 The trio were also charged with inciting Tangam Raju, Rajesh Kumar Gejinder and Farhan Ibrahim into dismantling metal barricaded put around Dataran Merdeka, which was off limits to the rallygoers, the same day.

All of them pleaded not guilty to both charges. They were the first individuals to be charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA), which came into force this year.

The Wall Street Journal ( WSJ ), an influential international financial daily, has come up with an opinion piece to say that Anwar should plead guilty to the charge if he believed the reforms carried out by Prime Minister Najib Razak were inadequate.

The article, entitled, ‘Malaysian People's Court, Anwar's civil disobedience and the next election', opined that a more straight-forward way to convince the public that the PPA was an unjust law would be to plead guilty and pay the fine ahead of the general election.

Real verdict will be at the ballot box

The article, which appeared in the ‘Review and Outlook Asia' section on Thursday, said considering the politician's past legal travails, having twice been tried on charges of sodomy and twice exonerated, "one might assume this is another politically motivated prosecution."

"But this case is different. Anwar was practising civil disobedience, and now he is paying the price. The real verdict will come at the ballot box in the next general election, expected later this year, when voters will get to decide whether Prime Minister Najib Razak's political reforms are proceeding at an appropriate pace, or Mr Anwar is right to press for faster change."

The paper further noted that "If Anwar wants to practice civil disobedience, he can't pretend to be innocent at the same time."

"Last month's Bersih rally occurred because many urban and middle-class Malaysians are unhappy with Kuala Lumpur's half-hearted reforms.

mic election 120909 najib "Najib is changing laws-including the notoriously repressive Internal Security Act that allows detention without charges-but he's replacing them with piecemeal improvements that still include draconian measures."

The WSJ said while Najib deserved credit for his reforms, the opposition also had good reasons to criticise them as inadequate.

"The real question is whether Malaysian society is best served by a faster pace of change or the opposition's confrontational tactics," it said.

- Bernama