PKR Youth cancels Utusan protest

The wing backs down for two reasons.
One of them is to avoid any untoward
incidents since Perkasa held a counter protest.

KUALA LUMPUR : A “showdown” between PKR Youth and Malay rights group Perkasa failed to materialise after the former cancelled its plan to hold a peaceful demonstration against Utusan Malaysia outside the daily’s office here.

PKR Youth deputy information chief Rozan Azen Mat Rasip said there were two reasons for the last-minute cancellation.

“One is because an anti-Lynas protest was being carried out by NGOs and Pakatan Rakyat supporters and we were advised by our central leadership against going ahead with the anti-Utusan protest,” he told FMT.

Rozan said the second reason was to avoid any untoward incidents due to the planned “counter-protest” by Perkasa.

“We understand that Perkasa and Umno Youth will be there specifically to cause trouble and we received information that police are already keeping a close watch on the Utusan office. We wanted it to be a peaceful gathering and we don’t want things to get out of hand,” he said.

It was learnt that Perkasa had gathered outside the Utusan office and handed over a memorandum in support of the daily. The memorandum was supposed to call on PKR Youth to respect Utusan’s freedom of expression.

The PKR Youth protest was called amid the controversy surrounding an Utusan Malaysia report which alleged that DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to undermine Islam’s position in the country.

The report was based on two unsubstantiated blog postings by pro-Umno bloggers. Both DAP and Christian leaders had denied this.

Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali had subsequently threatened a holy war against Christians if they questioned the position of Islam and the Malays.

Teoh El Sen FMT