KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 – “Another KitaLawan rally will he held on May 1 with a bigger and better crowd.” This was voiced by Batu Member of Parliament Tian Chua’s personal assistant, Rozan Azen Mat Rasip, in his speech during the rally in front of the Wisma Selangor Dredging building here today. Although Rozan Azen did not state the reason for the May 1 rally, it is expected to be on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a month after its implementation.
“We will continue to protest until they meet our demands. We will not stop voicing our opinions.” The KitaLawan rally today saw a turnout of about 700 participants, a much lower figure than the estimated 3,000. The groups had gathered at three checkpoints around the city centre before making their way to the Sogo Shopping Complex. From there, they then moved to KLCC, but were not allowed to get near the Petronas Twin Towers and Suria KLCC area, as police had set up barricades near the Public Bank building.
Later on, the crowd dwindled to about 400 participants. The weekly rally was first held after the imprisonment of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy on Feb 10. KitaLawan is aimed at demanding for Anwar’s release, to stop the implementation of GST as well as demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.
Organiser of the rally, the KitaLawan secretariat, earlier planned to gatecrash the wedding reception of Najib’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa, claiming that they, too, have the right to celebrate the wedding of the Prime Minister’s daughter as they claimed that the wedding was held using the public’s money. The participants opted to stay near the barricade for 45 minutes while singing and shouting “terima kasih abang polis” before dispersing at about 6.55pm.
