WEDNESDAY-19TH DECEMBER 2007- KK rally: We never expected public – Keadilan

KK rally: We never expected public – Keadilan
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah Youth yesterday expressed regret over the interpretation made by certain quarters about the presentation of Bersih's memorandum to Head of State Tun Ahmadshah Abdullah at the Istana Negeri here on Dec 14.
Its chief Abdul Razak Jamil, who headed the interim committee on the Bersih program, said a decision was reached on Dec 10 that a memorandum would be submitted to the Head of State with the participation of Sivarasa Rasiah, a Bersih's representative to Sabah.
Initially, he said, they expected about 20 people to be allowed to go to the Istana Negeri, which finally allowed six people only.
"We never informed the public to gather at the Padang Merdeka on that day (Dec 14). We expected only three people from the local media and a such, we were furious over the presence of about 300 policemen, including from the Federal Reserve Unit and members ofthe media," said Abdul Razak in a statement yesterday.
He said they would have applied for a police permit if they had planned to organise a massive gathering on that day.
"I feel sad that certain quarters had misinterpreted the submission of the memorandum (to the Istana Negeri) and that there were certain quarters who spread the rumours through the SMS (short messaging service).
"I readily admit that the presence of people on that day was not many as we only called a few specific individuals," said Abdul Razak, adding that Article 10 of the Federal Constitution allows a peaceful gathering with permit obtained from the police.