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Member of Parliament for the Kulai constituency in Johor, Teo Nie Ching,
says so far eight of those arrested in
Singapore have contacted her seeking help.
Malaysia's Democratic Action Party (DAP) has
requested a meeting with the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur to
discuss the fate of 21 Malaysians arrested on Saturday for staging an illegal
protest at Merlion Park.
DAP Member of Parliament for the Kulai
constituency in Johor, Teo Nie Ching, told Yahoo! Singapore late on Tuesday
that so far eight of those arrested in Singapore for protesting the recent
election results have contacted her seeking help.
The DAP is one of the opposition parties
under the Pakatan Rakyat coalition led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
'Very concerned'
Teo, who is also the DAP’s assistant
publicity secretary, said the party was “very concerned” for the 21 Malaysians
but added it was too early to tell if efforts to have a dialogue with Singapore
authorities will prove successful.
The DAP, she said, will also help to look
for lawyers in Singapore to represent those arrested if “they are indeed
charged in court.” Singapore police have
said investigations are on-going.
Teo also did not rule out the possibility
for making a trip down to Singapore to meet the protesters, and said she would
do so if there was a need. The MP is also coordinating efforts to help the 21,
who are out on bail at the moment, to share and exchange information.
“They are all feeling very nervous as they
don’t know what is going to happen to them. We will try our best to mitigate
the damage. Hopefully we can reduce the negative impact to the minimum,"
said the 32-year-old, who held on to her Kulai seat after garnering a
convincing 57 per cent of votes against her BN opponent Tay Chin Hein at the
recent elections.
"As a lawyer by profession in Malaysia,
I will try my best to give them some legal advice too,” she said.
The illegal protest where the arrests weremade was held at the Merlion Park last Saturday – a few days after a firstprotest at the same location resulted in local police issuing a stern warning
to nine Malaysians.
Teo said she was not surprised by the action
taken by some of her fellow countrymen in Singapore, where protests are rare
and illegal unless undertaken with relevant permits.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in astatement that "while foreigners are allowed to work or live here, they
have to abide by our laws".
"They should not import their domestic
issues from their countries into Singapore and conduct activities which can
disturb public order, as there can be groups with opposing views. Those who
break the law will be seriously dealt with."
A police spokesman told AFP that the
Malaysians were held under the Public Order Act, under which organisers of
illegal protests can be jailed up to six months or fined S$10,000. They can
also be both jailed and fined.
“It’s not just in Singapore. It happened in
other countries too and I feel proud of my fellow Malaysians. Some say overseas
Malaysians don’t care about what is going on in their homeland, but these
Malaysians who protested overseas proved them wrong,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian High Commission to
Singapore Datuk Md Hussin Nayan warned Malaysians living here to respect the laws
or "face the consequences".
"I hope Malaysians working or studying
in Singapore will reflect more on their situation before acting
illegally," he was quoted on saying in The Star newspaper.
The protests were a result of anger over
alleged fraud in the recent general election which saw the ruling coalition
Barisan Nasional, led by Prime Minister Najib Razak, continue its 56-year reign
of the country after winning a simple majority of parliament seats. However,
Najib’s government lost the overall popular vote, garnering only 47 per cent.
The opposition coalition’s leader Anwar
Ibrahim has challenged the outcome of the 13th general election, refusing to
accept the results and calling it the “mother of all frauds.”
He has also held large scale protest rallies
in Kuala Lumpur and Penang which were attended by tens of thousands of
supporters.
Despite the opposition coalition’s overall
defeat, the DAP’s stellar performance ensured that it is the largest opposition
party in Parliament. It won 38 federal seats and 95 state seats.
The party’s stalwart veteran Lim Kit Siang
won the hotly contested Gelang Patah seat in Johor by a convincing majority of
14,762 votes, defeating outgoing Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman.
(The writer is a freelance journalist. He
can be reached @SatishCheney)
Read More at : Yahoo News ~ SINGAPORE
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