POLICE BREAK UP OPPOSITION RALLY IN TERENGGANU,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 001377 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL KDEM MY SUBJECT: POLICE BREAK UP OPPOSITION RALLY IN TERENGGANU, RIOT ENSUES, TWO SHOT Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark for reasons 1.4 (b and d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Malaysian police efforts to forcibly prevent an opposition rally from proceeding without a police permit in Kuala Terengganu on September 8 turned into a four-hour long riot, during which the police used tear gas and a water-cannon to break-up a crowd of some 500 opposition supporters. A plainclothes policeman, allegedly set upon by the crowd, fired on protesters injuring two persons. The election NGO BERSIH organized the outdoors political meeting which involved Malaysia's three largest opposition parties, the Democratic Action Party (DAP),Anwar Ibrahim's Peoples' Justice Party (PKR),and the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS). Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak warned that "groups, organizations and members of the public, regardless of their political leanings, must respect the law or there will be chaos." Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Internal Security Mohd Johari Baharum later said that the Government would not allow any open air political rallies ("ceramahs") to be held before the elections. Opposition leaders decried the use of force against their ranks. PAS leaders vow to hold another ceramah at a nearby mosque on September 14. We believe this to be the first shooting incident of opposition supporters since Malaysia's race riots of 1969. Further GOM restrictions on outdoor rallies represent a serious problem for opposition parties, which largely lack access to the government-dominated mainstream media to reach voters. The Terengganu incident takes place against backdrop of the ruling Coalition's efforts to beat back Islamist party PAS's attempts to retake the state in the next general election. End Summary. ¶2. (U) On Saturday evening, September 8, a crowd of some 500 people had gathered in Kuala Terengganu, the capital city of Malaysia's northeastern state of Terengganu (approximately 400km NE of Kuala Lumpur),to listen to speeches by PKR Secretary General Khalid Ibrahim and PAS Vice-President SIPDIS Mohamad Sabu. Organizers from the NGO Bersih (the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, Bersih literally translated means "clean") claim they had filed a request for a permit to hold the gathering but never received word from the police of its approval or denial. Determined to hold the meeting, Bersih officials erected a make-shift platform and podium and the evening meeting began to assemble. (Note: Ceramahs in Malaysia are generally large social events often accompanied by hawkers selling food and drink, and small businessmen selling books, traditional medicines, clothing, VCDs and other party paraphernalia from small kiosks or tables. In the run-up to the national election, opposition parties have undertaken an active schedule of ceramahs as a means to reach voters. End Note.) After the crowd had begun assembling but prior to the start of the speeches, Malaysian police arrived and ordered the crowd to disperse. Police later explained that they had decided to deny the meeting permit because the location of the event was too close to the Sultan's palace and to official government residences. Despite repeated warnings from the police, the crowd refused to disperse and many took to the streets to protest the police actions aimed at preventing the ceramah. ¶3. (U) Opposition parties claim that police first began using tear gas and a water-cannon to disperse the crowd at around 10:30 PM. Police actions seemed to strengthen the resolve of those gathered, and the crowd moved from the original site down the street towards a nearby mosque, with the police in pursuit. There are reports that police continued to use a water-cannon on the crowd intermittently for approximately three hours. Police report that the angry crowd hurled stones, bottles, Molotov cocktails and home-made explosives at police, damaging several police vehicles. ¶4. (U) Police further reported that approximately 20 young men with sticks surrounded a plain clothes police officer at around 11:45 PM in the parking lot of a nearby motel. According to police, the young men began to attack the police officer and knocked him to the ground. While on the ground the police officer drew his side-arm and fired one shot into the crowd, hitting one man in the shoulder and another in the neck. During a September 10 press conference, PAS leaders alleged that the plain-clothes police officer was one of several agent provateurs who prompted the police action that evening. PAS identified both of the men shot as members of their political party. ¶5. (U) According to opposition sources, protests and police actions continued until approximately 2:30 AM Sunday morning. In the end, seven people were hospitalized, including 4 police officers and the two men who were shot. Police eventually arrested 23 people, of whom 19 were later released KUALA LUMP 00001377 002 OF 002 on bail. Four people remain in custody under weapons and explosives charges in relation to the riot. Traffic lights, billboards, street signs and potted plants along the streets were destroyed in the incident. ¶6. (U) On September 10, PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang pledged to hold another ceramah on September 14 on the grounds of a mosque which he constructed near the same area of Kuala Terengganu. Hadi Awang, PAS Deputy President Nasarudin Mat Isa, and PAS Vice President Mohamad Sabu have all pledged to speak at the event and tell their side of the story concerning the September 8 incident. ¶7. (U) Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak responded on September 9 to reporters' questions about the incident with the warning that "groups, organizations and members of the public, regardless of their political leanings, must respect the law or there will be chaos." He added that all parties, even ruling Barisan Nasional coalition members, must obey the law and "if they hold public gatherings, they must first obtain permission from the police." Deputy Minister of Internal Security Mohd Johari Baharum also commented to the press that the Government of Malaysia would not allow any open air ceramah to be held before the general election. He clarified that no ceramah can be organized without a police permit and any gathering without a permit was deemed an illegal assembly. ¶8. (C) Comment: Police have many times over the years fired water cannons and tear gas at opposition protests and rallies, but to our knowledge this is the first shooting incident at an opposition event since the race riots of 1969. Given the government's ability and willingness to exercise control over political content in the print and broadcast media to exclude opposition voices, further GOM restriction on open-air political assemblies makes it all the more difficult for the opposition parties to reach the public. In the initial aftermath, the government is using the incident to paint the opposition as dangerously unruly and lacking respect for law and order, while the opposition is highlighting the police actions in Terengganu as further evidence of the state apparatus used for undemocratic purposes. The shooting of two protesters gives the reports of the Terengganu riots an extra emotional edge. Terengganu has long been a political battleground between the Islamist opposition party PAS and UMNO (the United Malays National Organization, Malaysia's dominant party in the ruling coalition). PAS held the majority of seats in the Terengganu State Assembly from 1999 to 2003, and only through a suspect voter turnout and over 10,000 newly registered voters was UMNO able to recapture the state in 2003. The police decision not to approve the September 8 ceramah, and to intervene with force to stop it from taking place, was made against the backdrop of UMNO's determined effort to beat back any effort by PAS to retake the state in the next general election. LAFLEUR