Malaysia: 21 demonstrators arrested at peaceful pro-Gaza vigil

According to Malaysiakini.com, 21 participants at an anti-war vigil at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur were arrested on January 10. The vigil was organised by Anti-War Coalition (Gabungan Anti-Perang Malaysia) to show support to the victims of war and aggression in Palestine and Sri Lanka.

Some 200 people had gathered at about 8pm for the vigil, which was declared illegal by the police forces. Around 100 light strike force personnel were on hand to control and disperse the crowd. The 21 persons were arrested as the refused to leave the area. The arrested were detained at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters.

The arrested include Charles Santiago, Member of Parliament from the Klang constituency, Abdullah Sani, Member of Parliament from Kuala Langatk, Dr. Nasir Hashim (chairman of the Socialist Party of Malaysia, PSM, State Assembly member from Kota Damansara) and S. Arutchelvan (PSM general secretary). Abolish ISA Movement activist Norlaila Othman is also among those arrested. Other persons detained includes activists from the organizations Jerit and Suaram. The detained persons are believed to be investigated for 'illegal assembly'. (Note: The detainees were later released by the police)

One Jerit activist, E. Parameswari, told AFP that "We were holding a candlelight vigil to demand the end to the killing of innocent lives in Gaza, ... Police used force to break up the gathering and arrested the 21 people including opposition lawmakers Charles, Abdullah Sani and Nasir". One of the detained politicians, S. Arutchelvan commented to AFP from detention that "Our arrest makes a mockery of the position taken by Malaysia to condemn Israel".

The arrests against peaceful protestors who just wanted to show their support for the people of Gaza is a shameful act on behalf of the Malaysian authorities. Through trying to break the solidarity movement, the Malaysian government joins ranks with regimes like that of Egypt, acting in complicity with the Israeli aggressors.

On January 9 vigil a mass demonstration against the massacre in Gaza was held outside the U.S. Embassy. Simultaneous with the January 10 vigil in Kuala Lumpur, vigils were organized throughout Malaysia. Below some photos from a vigil in Georgetown, Penang (photos from Anti-War Coalition):

Malaysia: 2,000 restaurants boycott Coca-Cola in protest of Gaza killings

In protest of the murder of civilians in Gaza, an organization representing more than 2,000 restuarants in Malaysia have to boycott U.S. products. The boycott will be initiated on Friday this week. Thus Coca-Cola will disappear from the menues.

But to be honest, who needs sugar-loaded Coca-Cola when you can drink a chilled can of delicious grass jelly (photo below)?



(also, semi-related, news story on Coca-Cola chauvinist ad strategies)

Statement and call for protest of the Socialist Party of Malaysia

"Stop Mass Murder in Gaza!

Hands Off Gaza! Free Palestine!

- Statement by PSM in solidarity with the People of Palestine


6 January 2009

1. The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) condemns Israel for its latest massive assault on the Palestinian people.

2. Israel began its latest round of barbaric assault on 27 December 2008, by launching air strikes followed by land offensives, which aimed to destroy every aspect of civilised life in Gaza. The death toll in Gaza has reached over 500, while thousands have been wounded in the barbaric attacks of the Israeli armed forces.

3. The latest massacre has been carefully planned by the Zionist regime of Israel, attempting to destroy Hamas, the organisation that leads the struggle of the Palestinian people against its oppression. Hamas won the Palestinian election in January 2006. The recent assault is not a response to Hamas' rocket attacks as Israel claims, but rather a pre-planned ethnic cleansing to purge Arab Palestinians, and overthrow a democratically elected Hamas administration, with backing from imperialist powers like the United States.

4. This is not the first time the Zionist apartheid regime of Israel has committed an act of genocide, but this time it has been far more ruthless than before.

5. Israel's economic blockade of Gaza since June 2007 has cut off supplies of the most basic needs, such as food, water and medicine. The continuous blockade has turned Gaza Strip into the largest concentration camp in the world with a 1.5 million starving population imprisoned within its border.

6. Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire with Israel in June 2008 to try to bring humanitarian relief to the population of Gaza. But Israel's refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza, along with its continued attacks on Palestinian, have hampered the process.

7. Israel's new round of slaughter on the Palestinian people has deepened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza Strip.

8. Fewer than 20 Israelis have been killed by Qassam rocket fired from Gaza since 2001. Nearly 500 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli state violence in just a week, and the death toll is expected to increase as the Israeli offensive continues. Palestinians have chosen to resist with largely home-made rockets, their occupiers who practise apartheid, while the Israeli Zionist state, well-equipped with imperialist killing machines, has responded by collectively punishing the impoverished population of Gaza. Collective punishment is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention (GCIV) which Israel has become part of 60 years ago upon its formation.

9. Besides the Zionist Israeli state – a racist state founded on the mass expulsion of the Palestinians, its imperialist ally – the US and other western imperialist powers, are equally responsible for the ongoing slaughter of the Palestinian people. The US government has supplied Israel with the world's most modern weapons including F-16 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters, missiles and bombs which have been used by the Israeli armed forces during the attacks on the people in Gaza. The US government has planned to provide Israel with an average USD 3 billion a year in military aid for the next decade.

10. US support for Israel is part of the imperialist desire to dominate the Middle East region. In the midst of defeats of US in both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as its failure to contain Iran, US under the outgoing Bush administration has chosen to back Israel. The recent assault on Gaza would show both Israel and US still possessing the power to bully weaker governments in the region and to warn disobedient governments like Iran and Syria.

11. The question is why does the US President-elect Barack Obama who will be inaugurated on 20 January 2009 seem to be keeping a low profile on the recent slaughter in Gaza. Will the Obama administration makes a difference in the Middle East by breaking away from the US imperialist strategy which was embraced by previous presidents?

12. PSM extends its solidarity to the people of Palestine in their struggle against Israel's apartheid regime and imperialism.

13. PSM demands the following:

i. Israel must immediately end the siege of Gaza, stop its aggression and pull out all its troops from territories of the Palestinian Authority

ii. US must stop all its military aid to Israel and impose arms embargo against Israel

iii. US needs to end its "War on Terror" by immediately withdrawing its military from Iraq and Afghanistan

14. The people of Palestine have the rights to determine their future through democratic process from below.

15. The resistance of the ordinary people of Palestine against the Zionist regime of Israel is a resistance against the barbaric system of global capitalism and a struggle against imperialism. The struggle of the Palestinian people is our struggle.

16. A lasting peace in the Middle East will only prevail if justice is upheld for the Palestinian people and imperialism is defeated. It is only a global mass movement of ordinary people from below that can defeat imperialism.

Down with Racism and Imperialism!

Hand Off Gaza!

Long live Resistance!

Released by,

Choo Chon Kai

International Bureau

Socialist Party of Malaysia / Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

(Phone: +60-19-5669518)

PSM is calling for candle light vigils in solidarity with the people of Palestine on 10 January 2009 (Saturday), at Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Penang and Johor.

For more information, please contact Kuala Lumpur (Sevan – 016-9708370) , Perak (Sugu – 012-5061357), Penang (Kris – 016-3337678) and Johor (Choo – 012-7097721)"