THE group behind the Black Flag social media movement to demand Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation wants people to continue wearing black when going out and to tie a black cloth to their vehicles.

A spokesman from civil society umbrella group Sekretariat Solidarity Rakyat (SSR) said despite a police investigation, they would not stop the protest.

Police are investigating the Black Flag campaign under the Sedition Act as well as the Communications and Multimedia Act after SSR urged people to fly a black flag from their homes on July 3 and to post pictures of it on social media.

They then called for a three-day campaign over the weekend from July 10 till today asking people to wear black when going out and tie black cloths to their vehicles.

SSR is demanding Muhyiddin’s resignation, a full and physical Parliament sitting and for the state of emergency to end.

The SSR spokesman who requested anonymity, said these actions will continue until their three demands are met.

“This week, we are urging the people to wear black when going to get food or groceries, and to wear black when getting vaccinated as well as tie a black cloth on their vehicle.”

“We want to keep the sentiment going. Clearly, the government has failed in handling the pandemic,” said the spokesperson.

“The statement from the police chief about wanting to probe us under the Sedition Act is just a scare tactic.

“It was the same with the Buka Puasa Buka Parliament campaign last time,” he said, referring to the peaceful protest in April outside the Parliament gates that SSR also organised.

Although from SSR, the spokesman said the Black Flag movement has no real leader as it “belongs to the people”.

“However, human rights groups and civil rights groups support the campaign and its demands.”

At the moment, Putrajaya has only allowed the Dewan Rakyat to sit for five days starting July 26.

Last week, Federal CID director Abd Jalil Hassan said that the police and the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission are investigating the movement.

“We have opened an investigation paper into the case. We are investigating under the Sedition Act as well as Section 505(c) of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act,” he said told The Star.

Jalil told the English daily that they were tracking down the individuals who were involved in the campaign.

The SSR spokesperson said new protest actions will be announced this Thursday.

“After raising the black flag, and then wearing black, we will announce a new plan this Thursday and we will release a statement,” he added.

A source in Bukit Aman, meanwhile, said police have yet to call up anyone from SSR for questioning.

On July 3, when the black flag campaign was held, the hashtag #Lawan was tweeted more than 72,000 times, while another hashtag, #BenderaHitam, which is also being used by supporters, saw over 17,000 tweets. – July 12, 2021.