A group of Indian Malaysian supporters of jailed Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will be holding a hunger strike outside the gates of the Sungai Buloh Prison where he is being incarcerated this weekend.
Beginning 8am tomorrow, the group calling itself Kita Bangkit Kita Lawan (We Rise Up, We Fight) will assemble under a canopy erected outside the prison and will go without food and water until midnight on Sunday.
At a press conference announcing the initiative yesterday, KBKL spokesperson Chandran Ramasamy told The Malay Mail Online‘s Shaun Tan said the group decided on a hunger strike as an act of protest because they were afraid of being arrested for sedition if they spoke up instead.
“Whatever you do they (the government) will come for you,” he said.
“But it is a citizen’s right to be quiet and not eat.”
Chandran added that the protest was not going to be a case of “striking until you die”, as it was only scheduled to go on for two days.
The hunger strike brings with it three requests: for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to call for a pardons board hearing to hear Anwar’s appeal for a royal pardon; for the Home Ministry, Prisons Authority, and the Attorney-General to allow Anwar to attend Parliament sessions as Permatang Pauh MP; and for Anwar to be transferred to Sungai Buloh Hospital for medical treatment.
The group expressed its hope that 100 members of the public would join them in their silent protest over the weekend.
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