It is indeed a rare sight to see a Reformasi supporter shaking hands with a Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) policeman fully clad in riot gear.

But the 300 FRU personnel at last Saturday's gathering of 5,000 people at the Jalan Duta Finance Ministry complex had no choice but to put out their hands in response to the salam gesture by the people.

The gathering was organised by PAS Youth - with representatives from three Barisan Alternatif (BA) parties, PRM, Keadilan and DAP - to hand over a memorandum to Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin protesting the withdrawal of petroleum royalty payments to Terengganu by the Federal government.

The presence of an FRU water-cannon truck, a helicopter and several police trucks did not deter the assembly from convening at 9am and dispersing peacefully after 10 representatives from the 'Rights to the People Committee', led by Dr Hatta Ramli of PAS, handed over the memorandum to an officer representing Daim.

The memo, which calls for 'common sense to prevail' in upholding the 1975 Petronas agreement with the Terengganu state government, stated that the Federal government should not retract the royalty payments as the former BN government had forced the PAS government in Terengganu to inherit a RM700 million debt when the latter took over the state's administration following the last general elections.

Daim seen leaving

The memorandum stated that although the Federal government had challenged the state government to bring the matter to court, "can the integrity of the judiciary be guaranteed when a former chief judge himself has said that 'I don't want to be tried by Malaysian judges especially if I am innocent'?"

""The people of Malaysia hope for common sense to prevail and that for the sake of the Terengganu people the royalty payments be given to the government they had elected last November ," added the memorandum.

Before the handover of the memorandum, Daim was seen leaving the complex in a Proton Perdana.

BA Selangor Information head Jonson Chong of Parti Rakyat Malaysia said that initially, the 10 representatives were not allowed into the complex and were asked to hand over the memorandum from outside.

"We refused to do so as it was improper. We persisted and eventually were allowed inside the complex. But then, they (Finance Ministry officials) then wanted to take it from us in the foyer. We again refused.

Orderly crowd control

"They actually turned off the lifts to prevent us from going-up to hand over the memorandum at Daim's office. After much persistence on our part, they finally allowed us into the library where we handed over the memorandum to an official representing Daim," said Chong.

While the BA supporters were gathered outside, Finance Ministry staff were seen crowding the complex building's staircases and balconies waving and shouting words of encouragement to the people gathered below.

The police were said to have cooperated well with the organisers and crowd control was orderly with policemen even helping some participants to cross the roads safely.

The gathering ended with a reading of the doa by Ustad Ahmad Awang from PAS who then urged the people to stand in line and salam the police for being "nice" and "friendly".

Chong said that it was rather obvious that the government was trying its best to avoid negative publicity during the run-up to the Lunas by-election tomorrow.

"It is hoped the police will always behave in such a manner and not only during election campaign periods," he added.

Photos courtesy Harakahdaily.Com