Rally ups calls for resignation of EC, action by public

May 26: Petaling Jaya again hosted the Blackout 505 rally series, which held its ninth mammoth gathering at Padang Timur or Dataran Petaling Jaya, attracting more than 80,000 people who filled every inch of the iconic landmark.

The rally, called by Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM), kicked off at 5.00 pm amid drizzle, with a short break which saw the field as well as spaces inside the nearby Amcorp mall making way for Muslims to perform the Maghrib prayer. By 9.00 pm, tens of thousands were already sandwiched in the field with thousands more stranded at nearby entry points including at the Taman Jaya LRT station.

Civil society groups, individual activists and top Pakatan Rakyat leaders including PAS's deputy president Mohamad Sabu and youth chief Nasrudin Hassan addressed the crowd. The rally concluded just before midnight with a fiery speech by Anwar Ibrahim who again vowed not to concede victory to BN in the controversial general election.

The focus of last night's attacks by speakers was the Election Commission, with many banners condemning its head Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and deputy Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

In recent times, the duo have been placed at the centre of growing calls for the EC's resignation, and last night appeared to be the clearest message by protesters.

In his speech, Anwar urged for a mass lodging of police reports nationwide by those who witnessed fraud on polling day, saying this would further dismiss the denials by EC and BN leaders of electoral fraud.

"At the very least, by this Monday, lodge a police report on the problem with indelible ink," he said.

On the election petitions which PR was preparing, Anwar said Malaysians should have no illusion of justice, saying the 'people’s court' was the better judge.

"You want to know about the courts, you ask Anwar," he said. "But we will go through the procedures. And we will keep gathering and we will not be cowed by your threats," Anwar added in a warning directed at Home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who had in the run-up to the latest rally warned the public that they were breaking the law.

Anwar said EC deputy chief Wan Ahmad’s claim that GE13 was clean and fair was a blatant liar, calling him a liar "of evil proportion".

"Let me make it very clear. We won the elections, and no way we will ever concede this government to the illegitimate Najib’s government. They have stolen lands, stolen tolls, stolen AES (Automatic Enforcement System), and now through the EC they have stolen our rights. Every voter has been cheated.

"We will fight them, and fight them hard. We will never surrender," he stressed.

SAMM chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin announced the search for 500,000 volunteers in the movement to press the authorities to address electoral fraud.

He also vowed to mobilise a protest in front of the EC office to press for resignation of the commissioners.

"We will sit-in there until the resignation of EC members,” he added.

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