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

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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

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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

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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