Anwar’s wife and PKR president, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, was joined by her daughter and PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Other Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders present included DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, PKR vice-president Tian Chua, Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah, PAS’ Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar, DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke, former Umno division leader and former PPBM co-founder Kharuddin Abu Hassan, and Amanah communications director Khalid Samad.
Together with a small group of 150 people, they took pictures outside Parliament grounds and proceeded to march to Dataran Merdeka.
At Dataran Merdeka, PH leaders took turns to speak about Anwar.
Wan Azizah said Anwar had called her yesterday as he was allowed one phone call a week.
“He told me he was in pain and it was hard for him to do anything.
“He said it was even difficult to write or brush his teeth because of the pain. This is his sacrifice for us to have a better future,” she said.
Nurul Izzah said although Anwar was jailed, he always reminded the family to defend the people and to raise issues about the country’s economy.
“Despite threats of imprisonment, he never ran away from Malaysia.
“Those who jailed him have to be ashamed for being cowards because they are scared of the truth.
“The winds of change are coming; we start the countdown to his release now.
“We hope he comes out before his June release date,” she said.
Tian Chua said Anwar’s 1,000 days in prison were significant in his struggle against the corrupt.
“What I went through in prison can’t compare with what he has gone through and we all hope he is released as soon as possible.
“We all sympathise with what he and Wan Azizah has gone through.”
Tian Chua was jailed for a month for refusing to obey a police order to leave a restricted area, following the Bersih 3 rally in 2012.
Tian Chua also thanked the police for their cooperation for tonight’s gathering.
“I want to thank the police as we have received cooperation from them and they helped us to take care of the traffic so that we arrived safely at Dataran Merdeka.
“I also want to thank DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) for allowing us to gather here in Dataran Merdeka.”
Khalid Samad said Anwar was the icon of the political struggle against the corrupt.
“He is a principled leader that never sold out to escape imprisonment.
“We will always be with Anwar in his struggle against the corrupt.
“If we don’t win the next GE (general election), we will all be jailed. This is why we have to ensure victory in the upcoming GE,” he said.
Sivarasa said Anwar had made a huge sacrifice.
“Anwar, who is suffering from pain after being involved in a car accident, gives his warmest regards to those who have gathered here.
“His spirit has not wavered and our spirit must not waver as well.”
It was reported that Anwar was being transported back to the Sungai Buloh prison on Sept 22, after being hospitalised for four days at Hospital Kuala Lumpur, when the prison officer driving the car had to brake sharply to avoid an oncoming car.
This caused the escort car behind to also knock into the car carrying Anwar.
Otai Reformis leader Saari Sungib said the people had gathered today to ask for Anwar’s freedom.
“We are here because we want to free Anwar. We never forgot Anwar and his struggles.
“He told us to always fight for the people and to stay united in this struggle against Umno-BN.”
Anwar has been detained since Feb 10, 2015 when the Federal Court in Putrajaya upheld the Court of Appeals’ decision to convict Anwar on charges of sodomy (Section 377a and 377b of the Penal Code) and sentenced him to five years in prison.
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