Post-election situation in Malaysia yet unstable
Malaysia's opposition appeared headed for a clash with authorities Wednesday.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia s opposition appeared headed for a clash with authorities Wednesday, saying it would defy a police threat to stop a protest rally by its leader Anwar Ibrahim over disputed election results.
Malaysia s police chief has said the opposition did not follow proper procedures for staging the Wednesday night rally and that participants would be arrested.
Tian Chua, vice president of Anwar s People s Justice Party, acknowledged the opposition was not within the letter of the law over the gathering in a stadium outside the capital Kuala Lumpur, but insisted it would go ahead.
"We have picked a stadium to allow our supporters to gather so that Anwar can explain the irregularities in the election and how he plans to move forward," Tian said, adding that the assembly posed no security threat.
"Despite the police ban, the gathering will proceed. Anwar will be there."
Anwar has called for a "fierce" sustained campaign for electoral reform and said the opposition would soon produce evidence backing its claims that Sunday s elections were rife with fraud by Prime Minister Najib Razak s government.
Najib, who was sworn in Monday after his Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition retained its 56-year hold on power, has insisted the polls were free and fair.
National police chief Ismail Omar said the rally was considered illegal because organisers did not properly notify local police under a new assembly law passed in 2011.
"Comply with the law and use the correct channel to apply for a permit from the district police chief," state news agency Bernama quoted him saying.
Ismail added that participants would be arrested, Bernama said.
The rally was set for around 8 p.m. (1200 GMT).
The Peaceful Assembly Act cited by Ismail eliminated some restrictions on public gatherings but has been widely criticised by rights groups as effectively outlawing street marches.
The law was passed a few months after a street march by tens of thousands of people criticising the electoral system as rigged for the government.
Most gatherings are allowed under the law, however, if organisers give 10 days notice to local police. Ismail said no such permission was sought.
The election was touted as the first in the country s history in which the opposition had a real chance of unseating the ruling coalition, which has held a tight grip on power since independence in 1957.
But Najib s government, while ceding a few seats, maintained a firm majority in the 222-member parliament despite garnering just under half of the nationwide popular vote.
Voters across the country complained after the ballot that indelible ink touted by Najib as a guarantee against voter fraud was found to easily wash off.
Videos, pictures and first-hand accounts of purportedly foreign "voters" being confronted at polling centres by angry citizens also went viral online.
Anwar had earlier alleged a ruling-coalition scheme to fly tens of thousands of "dubious" and possibly foreign voters to sway the outcome in key constituencies.
