Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen and Stampin MP Julian Tan have been served with summons and charge sheet for allegedly committed offences under Section 4(2)(c) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.
A police officer served them the court documents at the DAP headquarters at about 10.30am today.
Both Chong and Tan allegedly committed offences during the Bersih 4 rally held here on August 29 this year.
Upon conviction of the mentioned Section, the accused will be fined up to RM10,000.
At a news conference, Chong said he saw this as political persecution by the government in light of the imminent state election.
He said anyone who was fined RM2,000 and above would be disqualified as MP and ADUN and would be prohibited from standing in elections or holding any political positions for five years after the fine.
Chong’s counsel Yap Hoi Liong said he would advise Chong to plead not guilty in court tomorrow (Dec 14).
One wonders why Sarawak continues to go to the trouble and expense of holding so-called elections, if this is how it treats the opposition?
Who in the world will take the outcome seriously when all these leading YBs have been disqualified by such blatant tactics?
By supporting Bersih 4 (as did the former longest ever serving Premier of Malaysia Mahathir Mohammed) these men exercised their democratic rights, no less than they do by being part of the opposition.
Adenan, who is regarded as still benefitting politically from the fact he is not Taib himself, should show himself less insecure than this.
He should demonstrate that he is brave enough to stand up to a fair fight in this election, where he already holds all the cards in terms of cash, resources and the state apparatus serving his party needs.
By creating 11 new rotten seats through his gerrymandered delineation exercise and now persecuting opposition leaders in this way he shows that even with all those trumps in his hands he still fears the anger of the people against BN.