THERE is nothing wrong about street protests or peaceful demonstrations, said Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, noting that one of the eight individuals arrested by police in Kota Kinabalu today is his party’s state Youth chief.

Mohamad said he, too, had been arrested many times by authorities for doing the same thing.

“I, myself, had been arrested countless times before for being part of a street protest. It’s not a big problem.

“For me, organising a street protest is okay if it is not an armed protest,” the defence minister told reporters in Kota Kinabalu today.

Eight activists were arrested by police at the busy Sunday Gaya Street market for organising the “Pandang Ke Sabah Rally” as Kota Kinabalu prepared for the Malaysia Day celebrations tonight.

The celebrations will be attended by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other ministers.

One of the the individuals arrested is Sabah Amanah Youth chief Mohd Khairuddin Daud.

They were allegedly roughed up by local authorities after being told by police to disperse.

The protesters listed 10 demands, including equal rights, better public transport services, job opportunities and improved security.

Amanah is a component party of Pakatan Harapan (PH) but is not included in the Warisan-PH electoral pact in Sabah.

Sabah Amanah was rumoured to have been sidelined in the discussions to form the Warisan-PH pact during the run-up to the 14th general election.

Former state Amanah chief Hamzah Abdullah was allegedly told by Warisan president Shafie Apdal to not contest in GE14.

It was understood that Hamzah was eyeing the Batu Sapi parliamentary seat but Warisan had fielded Liew Vui Keong, who is now minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, there.

Furious with Warisan’s dominance in the seat distribution talks, Hamzah bypassed state PH and demanded an appointment letter from the national Amanah leadership to contest.

Hamzah then lost the contest for Batu Sapi and had to make way for a new state chief after souring party ties with Warisan.

Newly-installed state Amanah chief Haris Alimudin said Khairuddin had mentioned in passing that he will be taking part in the peaceful demonstration today.

Haris said Deputy Home Minister cum Warisan Youth chief Azis Jamman had given his assurance that all eight activists will be released by the police at 7pm tonight. Enough time for them to witness the Malaysia Day celebration.

“What I see is that Khairuddin is only practicing his democratic rights, while the authorities are only doing what they have been ordered to do.

“No one did anything wrong. Khairuddin has not broken any party rules and therefore, will not be penalised,” he said. – September 16, 2018.