KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 – Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives from both the federal and state levels will go to Istana Negara daily to submit a people’s petition to urge the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to pardon jailed opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The petition, which was launched today, will comprise signatures of people who reside in the elected representatives’ constituencies. The aim is to get one million signatures by May 1. “This is the 35th day Anwar is in jail. We launched this initiative to plead with His Royal Highness to use his power to grant Anwar his freedom.
“Every parliamentarian and assemblyman will bring the petition to the Palace,” Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin (PKR-Bukit Katil) said today outside the Parliament lobby. Also present at the launch of the petition was Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack, who said Anwar was jailed because of a politically motivated charge. “As citizens, it is our joint responsibility to fight for justice. We believe Anwar was politically punished and we are here today on behalf of the people who feel the same,” he said.
The petition also received the support of electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah and lawyer-activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan. On February 10, a five-man bench led by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria upheld Anwar’s conviction of having carnal intercourse with his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. He was alleged to have committed the offence at a unit of the Desa Damansara condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008. Anwar remains the opposition leader and Permatang Pauh MP after his wife, PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar presented a petition for a royal pardon to Istana Negara before the 14-day deadline expired.
Before Parliament opened for its meeting last week, the Prisons Department barred Anwar from attending the month-long proceedings on grounds it had to follow procedures. The department had reportedly notified the speaker of its rejection. However, PKR had insisted that the law was clear that Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was the final and legal authority to decide whether Anwar could attend Parliament’s first sitting of this year.
