Malaysiakini Your Say

‘Only in Malaysia can violent gatecrashers forcibly end a peaceful protest even under the watchful eyes of the police.’

Uninvited guests crash anti-Lynas protest

Swipenter: “We are from Kuantan, this is the Malay land!” said a man who identified himself as Azman Attar.

How stupid can these ‘uninvited guests’ be. Even protesting against the deadly effects of radiation, the issue of race has to come into the picture. Maybe these ‘uninvited guests’ think that the radiation from the Lynas plant has the intelligence to discriminate who can suffer or not to suffer from the effects of radiation from its radioactive waste.

These are definitely not ‘uninvited guests’ but invited guests of some interested party trying to stir things up. The clue lies in when they uttered “this is Malay land”, and that it is the usual modus operandi of the one political party and/or its outsourced organisation that likes to play race game.

FellowMalaysian: This is where things fall out of line. It was a peaceful protest and a sensible way displaying public outrage over a matter of grave concern to citizens.

Why must racial runts and slur be engaged by this unprovoked group of cohorts? And why are the police keeping their eyes closed?

And where’s Kuantan MCA chief Ti Lian Ker when we need him as this kind of situation is where he can contribute something positive and make a name for himself as the champion of Lynas issue.

Dood: Only in Malaysia can violent gatecrashers forcibly end a peaceful protest even under the watchful eyes of the police. Instead of arresting the gatecrashers who were getting violent and protecting the harmless protesters, the police let the abuse continue and even told the protesters to disperse.

One also wonders who these so-called ‘Kuantan locals’ are really working for.

Quigonbond: Reading to the end of the article gives me the impression the police did another ‘Bar Council’ job on the protestors – letting them fend off a violent crash party. Does this signify a change in Home Ministry tactics? We will not stop you from protesting, but we won’t stop someone else from beating you up either.

It’s just as good as using FRU against the protestors, and is in fact morally far worse because you are aiding and abetting in criminal violence, which is quite a different class of offence altogether from not having a police permit to hold an assembly.

EugeneT: May I suggest that these arrogant and ignorant pro-Lynas supporters, who at best can only reply with silly retorts such as “This is Malay land!” and brute force, be moved near to the rare-earth plant. Let’s see if they are still supportive of it in time.

Kenneth_2585: It is so easy to get emotional once you turn it into racial issue. I pity the people who fight for their future generation’s future and yet being harassed.

If you are not being appreciated, why not just move out of the state or better still out of the country? It is sad but the most practical thing to do if you are not of the right colour in this country.

Ghkok: We all have a duty to fight gangsters like these. They are a threat to our country. They are threat to all Malaysians – Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans and Kadazans.

They are willing to allow rare earth factory to pollute the surroundings and the land, and threaten the health of residents of that area – whether Malay, Chinese or Indians. Put simply, they are the enemy of the rakyat.

MySecret: It is obvious these type of modus operandi is so similar to many other gate crashers when the ultra privilege of the existing ruling elites are threatened by the rakyat, be it from toll concessionaires right up to the state assemblies.

Is it any wonder we have thugs in the Dewan Rakyat and MPs who act like its their serfdom to lord over?

Sulaiman: This is an Umno group for sure. What has this country turned into? We now have ‘terrorists’ to come in every time a group protests a government project.

Are we being ruled by ‘errorists’? I think we need urgent international help. Till today the damage done in Bukit Merah has not been acknowledged. People have died as a result of it.

Ong Guan Sin: We start to see a new trend. It used to be ‘illegal assembly’ – through the Police Act – utilised to crush dissent.

And now that it’s proven too tedious to fight in court and courage cannot be dampened, we see gangsters, most probably hired by whoever that is, to stop dissent. Is it authoritarianism for hire? What has Malaysia become?

AnakBangsaMalaysia: These thugs are obviously Umno/Perkasa thugs planted there to intimidate the peaceful anti-Lynas demonstrators.

Their Umno/Perkasa memberships give them automatic immunity against arrest from the police despite uttering threats and attempting to physically assault the protestors and journalists. How pathetic the police have become.

Azman Attar and his thugs should undergo an immediate medical checkup. It sounds as though their brains have already been subjected to a massive dose of radiation.

Mikey: Those of you who are for this Lynas plant, just ask yourself why the Australians won’t build it on their own land. The last time I checked, Australia has a lot more land than Malaysia.

After all, it is safe, right?