Don't play ROULETTE with our MPs - Guan Eng warns Najib

KUALA LUMPUR - Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng slammed Prime Minister Najib Razak's government for political double standards warning the federal government not to cross the line and go after lawmakers from the Opposition or risk the wrath of the people.
Guan Eng, the DAP secretary-general, took up the cudgels for his coalition mates slapped with summonses to present themselves to the Kuala Lumpur magistrate’s court on July 24, where they have been told they will be charged with contravening the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA).
Two Pakatan leaders served the summonses are MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli and MP for Seremban Anthony Loke Siew Fook, and Guan Eng expects more to follow.
According to the summons, they are to be charged under Section 15(3) of the PAA for allegedly organizing the June 22 Black 505 rally at Padang Merbok to protest the widespread electoral fraud manifested during the May 5 general election.
If convicted, both Loke and Rafizi can be fined up to RM10,000. They also risk being disqualified as MPs if fined more than RM2,000.

Ploy to 'decimate' the Opposition bench
Some have accused Najib's Umno party of instigating the prosecutions in a bid to retain the political upper hand in the country. Najib has claimmed a victory of 133 seats in Malaysia's 222-seat Parliament, but the talent is clearly slanted on the Opposition side of the House, with Rafizi and Anthony regarded as being among two of the most promising young leaders.
"When you go to court, you look at the legal aspect., you know you are looking at the spirit and object of the law. You are also like playing a game of roulette," Guan Eng had told reporters.
"I also have been charged before. I went to prison trying to defend an under-aged girl who had been raped. I lost my MP status and of course, the judge who convicted me is Mohd Noor, the same judge now subject to a sedition probe. So if you talk about the courts, it could be based on technical considerations but placing our MPs into this sort of situation is actually continued persecution. But when you are charging under the Peaceful Assembly Act and there is no violence, nothing, why are they charging under the PAA?
"And the whole issue is about elections. Up till now has the EC answered? The MP for Pandan has talked about the companies (which were granted indelible ink, caps and T-shirt contracts) but they do not want to answer. For those who supplied indelible ink and why was the ink not indelible and they themselves admit there was some problem, so when you are demanding answers, you yourself refuse to give answers. So why are you prosecuting MPs who are carrying out their duties to demand answers from the EC when they have abdicated their duty and responsibility. You say it is indelible, but when it is used, it is not indelible and you yourself admit there is a problem.
"Yang buat salah tak kena, yang meminta penjelasan kena - the same thing that I encountered 10 years ago. So this is the answer that we want and now when we demand the answer, we are charged. So we are saying this is a form of political persecution. Is that a form of national reconciliation, this is not national reconciliation."


Source : Malaysia Chronicle