Sabah rally-goers slammed over burning of caricature

Free Malaysia Today

4 hours ago

Participants at the Gempur Rasuah 2.0 rally in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, painting a caricature of the prime minister before setting it on fire. (Facebook pic)
PETALING JAYA : A Sabah PKR leader is puzzled over why rally-goers protesting the water woes plaguing Universiti Malaysia Sabah set fire to a caricature of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during the gathering.
Razeef Rakimin pointed out that Anwar had previously announced an allocation of RM3 million to resolve the water supply disruptions at the university.
'The prime minister approved the sum after listening to the students' grouses and yet he was targeted,' he said in a statement this evening.
During a trip to Kota Kinabalu in May 2023, Anwar said the federal government would channel the sum to the state government to resolve UMS's water woes.
In January last year, higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir announced an additional allocation of RM2 million to UMS for the same purpose.
The Gempur Rasuah 2.0 rally, organised by several UMS students over the weekend, ended with the burning of Anwar's caricature.
According to Malaysiakini, the rally began at about 1pm on Saturday and continued until 11am yesterday with over 100 participants who called for action against the Sabah water department.
Razeef, who is the Tuaran PKR chief, said that while the party had no issue with the public holding rallies, there was something amiss with the approach adopted by the organisers of the Gempur Rasuah 2.0 rally.
He said the campaign resorted to snide remarks and swearing, 'which many found off-putting'.
When only 50 to 80 rally-goers turned up on the first day, he said, the organisers came up with a new gimmick – drawing Anwar's caricature and burning it.
'It is clear that it was not only a desperate stunt, but one that was also directed at the wrong person,' he said.