As part of Pakatan Rakyat Youth and the #KitaLawan organizers, DAPSY takes offence at NST’s mischievous headline in yesterday’s paper titled “Guan Eng warns DAP assemblymen not to join #KitaLawan rally” (from Bernama; http://www.nst.com.my/node/75272).
We have listened to the transcript of what was said by DAP Secretary-General-cum-Penang Chief Minister at yesterday’s event and it is clear that he did not oppose the rally but instead, designated that DAPSY and DAP members/supporters would attend and represent the party.
In fact, what Lim had said was that all PR elected representatives were required to be in their constituencies as it was an annual state government event that had been running for 6 years and a total of 160,000 recipients were to receive their cash allocations. Furthermore, the date had been decided well before Chinese New Year – way before the 307 #KitaLawan rally was planned.
He did not say that the elected reps were ‘barred’ from attending the event, simply that they had duties to perform. It is very mischievous at best of the NST to report that Lim had somehow barred them from attending the event, implying that the DAP did not support the rally.
It is completely within reason that a state government event involving such a huge number of Penang residents and where documents need to be endorsed by elected representatives, cannot be simply cancelled or postponed.
The DAP has always and will always support any initiative and porogrammes backed by Pakatan Rakyat based on consensus. The Pakatan Rakyat is our only hope for a better Malaysia.
On a related matter, we also express suspicion and serious doubt regarding the statement issued by the so-called Sekretariat #KitaLawan Utara which was circulated widely through social media, as it did not carry any names of local PR leaders or known coordinators within the main secretariat. The statement had also chastised the Penang Chief Minister for giving excuses and ‘rejecting’ invitations to attend Pakatan Rakyat rallies (this being the second one after a Turun event in Seberang Jaya some time ago).
At a press conference this morning, Lim had rebuked the NST and clarified that neither he nor the DAP opposed the rally, and that he had already informed Datuk Seri Wan Azizah.
Due to the nature of the media reports and various untrue allegations about DAP boycotting today’s rally, we have been inundated by criticism and insults from all parties.
We wish to reiterate that the DAP has never at any point boycotted today’s rally and have been consistently and passionately promoted and marketed this event on Facebook and Twitter since the day the rally was announced in a joint press conference by Pakatan Rakyat youth leaders.
These promotional images, articles and short videos can be and have been viewed publicly on the main DAP Facebook page at http://facebook.com/DAPMalaysia since 26 February 2015.
We have uploaded no less than 15 videos of PR leaders promoting the rally, which can be viewed on http://facebook.com/DAPMalaysia/videos. As for Twitter, our timeline is there for all to see.
It is unfortunate that simple facts can be manipulated and distorted by the media to serve a certain agenda. We urge the media to perform their job responsibly and present facts in a conscientious and professional manner that befits their noble profession.
We invite the media to comprehensively cover today’s event, as more than 25 DAP leaders and elected reps as well as many party members/supporters will be there to show solidarity with DS Anwar Ibrahim and to stand up for justice and democracy.