The man was putting up billboards and banners, which carried the two-worded slogan meaning “Free Anwar”, to promote the gathering that will coincide with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s one week return to Penang to attend a court hearing.
Penang PKR leadership council secretary Zulkiefly Saad said the party decided to drop the slogan since the police seemed to have a problem with it.
“We will still put up billboards and other materials to promote the event, but without the ‘Bebas Anwar’ slogan. We will go with ‘Solidarity with Anwar’.
“We were told there’s an issue with the title of the event. The message from the district police chief’s office was sent to (national PKR Youth deputy chief and Seberang Jaya assemblyman) Dr Afif Bahardin’s office.
“Dr Afif’s office is handling the police permit application for the event,” he told FMT today.
It was reported that the event’s billboards and banners had carried the words ‘Himpunan Solidariti (Solidarity Gathering) #BebasAnwar #SelamatkanMalaysia (Save Malaysia)’.
Seberang Perai Tengah police chief ACP Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid reportedly said the police were probing the matter under the Sedition Act after getting reports from the public about the billboards.
He also said the police had earlier removed three billboards of the PKR event in Alma, Bukit Teh and Permatang Tinggi, advising the ceramah organiser to stop putting up the billboards.
It was also reported that the Bukit Mertajam Umno division wanted the billboards taken down.
Zulkiefly said the party worker was out on police bail the same day he was picked up but he could be called up by the police again anytime, while some of the billboards were now in the police’s keeping for the investigation.
He said he did not see how the slogan was considered seditious, as their intention was only to show solidarity and give moral support to their party boss, who is in jail for sodomy.
“I didn’t get the chance to see the I O (investigating officer) to ask. If there is a problem with the words, the police can just advise us. We can change it.
“PKR is not an illegal party. We will follow regulations, like getting police permits for our gathering,” he said.
Zulkiefly also said he learned that the three billboards were removed by the police in Bukit Mertajam at night.
“When we found out the billboards were missing, we first thought it was an act of sabotage. We didn’t think it was the police,” he said.
He said the party also applied to the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) for a permit to put up the billboards.
“We went ahead to put them up when we were told by councillors that it was not going to be a problem,” he added.
The gathering on Jan 9 will be at the Seberang Jaya Expo site. Top Pakatan Harapan leaders are expected to attend the event, which will start at 9pm.
State PKR communication and new media director Farid Arshad said he did not foresee the recent episode with the billboards would badly affect the event.