Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) refusal to allow Pakatan Rakyat use Padang Merbok for its 'Black 505' rally on June 22 is the result of “political pressure” from BN and has nothing to do with the field "already being booked".

Proof of this is that the Malaysian Olympic Council (OCM) event, the Olympic Day Run, will be held at Dataran Merdeka, not at Padang Merbok, Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli said today.

NONERafizi (left) said this has been verified with the OCM website and its Facebook page, which states the event will be held at Dataran Merdeka.

This contradicts the claim made by Kuala Lumpur Mayor Ahmad Phesal Talib yesterday that one of the reasons DBKL rejected Pakatan’s application for use of the field on June 22 was because the OCM would be making "logistics preparations" for its event at Padang Merbok that day, for an event to be held on the next day.

Ahmad Phesal had said that the council had booked the venue last year, but did not name the nature of the event that will be held.

However, it is widely known among the Klang Valley's running community that the 10th McDonald's Olympic Day Run - an event which involves the OCM - will be held on June 23.

Meeting mayor on June 14

In a press statement today, Rafizi said he made the discovery upon checking the OCM calender on its official website, which he then verified via its Facebook page as well as the website of a participating organisation.

“I regret DBKL’s action in not providing a clear answer as to the use of Padang Merbok on June 23, 2013, just because it is forced to bow to political pressure by Umno-BN,” the PKR director of strategy said.

NONERafizi said he had checked the marathon route and found that the staring and ending points were Dataran Merdeka, not Padang Merbok.

In view of this, he said, his Pakatan colleagues and he would hold another round of discussions with the mayor on June 14.

"However, we will not back down from our decision to hold the event at Padang Merbok on June 22, especially since it is proven  that no one else is using the field that weekend," he said.

Won't be bound by stadiums

Rafizi also criticised Ahmad Phesal for echoing BN leaders suggesting that Pakatan holds rallies in an enclosed place, such as a stadium, which he argued was not in the spirit of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.

azlan"To apply the BN leader's position, thus all functions cannot be held in open areas and the relevant law should be renamed the Peaceful Assembly in Stadiums Only Act," he said.

He added that Ahmad Phesal's claim that the rally would cause traffic jams was also unacceptable because a marathon event would involve road closures as well.

"If they can close off several roads to allow the race to take place, I'm sure the authorities can do the same for the rally," Rafizi added.

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