PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has called on the police and the attorney-general (AG) to look at the new realities of the country having more democracy, instead of hounding protesters who attended the mammoth rally last Saturday.

NONEAnwar (right) said police action in investigating the organisers and protesters was in bad faith, especially as Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had thanked the opposition for conducting the rally peacefully.

“We have followed all the conditions set. I was even told by the police not to march out, which I complied with. We also ended the event at 5pm, another that we complied,” he said.

When asked about the authorities investigating three violations during the rally, Anwar said: “At first Umno said 'do not have it', (then) Najib said 'thank you', while Hishammuddin (Hussein) asked us to 'go to the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil' and the Information, Communications and Culture Minister (Dr Rais Yatim) called this 'an illegal gathering'.

“I feel that this is enough. Stop it. The image of the police in the eyes of the public is different now (as a result of what they are investigating.

“I think the AG and the police must first appreciate the new realities of the democratic transition. The AG should spend his time focusing on abuse of power and corruption cases in the country.”

NONEPuchong MP Gobind Singh Deo (left), who represented Anwar in his defamation case in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today, said he had heard the authorities now wanted to press charges against the participants.

“Let me say this to the AG: give democracy a chance. This is the first time that we have successfully held an event like this, and thousands of Malaysians have shown that they are mature enough.

“I think the AG should promote this culture (of freedom to assemble peacefully) among Malaysians rather than take an aggressive approach to investigate or prosecute people. I do not think there is a necessity,” said Gobind, who is from the DAP.

Crowd numbers revised

It was reported that the police are investigating the rally organisers for three violations: the crowd exceeding 30,000 people in Stadium Merdeka, parents caught bringing children to the rally and the presence of banners with seditious words at the event.

Meanwhile, think-tank Politweet today revised its initial estimate of the number of participants to a more modest range of between 63,976 and 78,193 people.

This is about half of Politweet’s preliminary estimate of about 150,000 participants during the peak of the rally, which it derived based on photos in the press and those shared on the social media.

On Sunday, Politweet, a research firm that analyses Twitter usage, said the crowd had occupied an area of 424,149.14 square feet, not taking into account the stadium's seating capacity.

That figure too was revised to 275,532.03 square feet, it was revealed today.

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